The Tactician
by King35763
Summary: A Sidestory from Cormag Ravenstaff's "The Swordmaster". Focuses on the Tactician in his story, Kaitlyn. Set in the world of Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken/ the blazing sword/ VII. Kaitlyn wakes up barely remembering her own name, and having a voice talk to her that she doesn't know. She then meets Lyn, and the two fast become friends. They travel together, towards Lyn's corrupt uncle.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Fire emblem**

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A cool breeze washed over the plains, making the tall grass whisper as it bent over to one side. A lone robed figure laid in the middle of the plains. She opened her eyes, and then immediately squinted them and moved her hands to try and block out the bright sun. Slowly, she sat up, and looked around.

"Ugh, my head," she groaned to herself, "I feel as if I just got hit over the head." Still sluggishly looking around, the girl seemed to be trying to remember something.

"What's my name…," she thought to herself. It was a mystery to her why she couldn't recall her name, and she slowly started to go into a panicked state, thinking that maybe she didn't have a name.

_-Of course you have a name, silly one-_

"My name is Kaitlyn…" she declared slowly and quietly, as if making sure it felt right. Then slowly, she closed her eyes and fell back asleep.

* * *

Kaitlyn woke up, but she didn't open her eyes. She just wanted to lie there in the warmth and comfort. After a couple minutes, she realized that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, and decided that she might as well get up. After she opened her eyes, she saw the roof of a small house, instead of the open skies she expected. As she continued to survey her surroundings, she noticed that she was in a bed, and that she wasn't alone in the house.

Sitting by a fire pit structure, there sat a girl with long teal hair done up in a pony tail and a sword by her side. Kaitlyn tensed up against the potential threat, ready to attack if needed. Even though the girl didn't seem like one to attack suddenly, Kaitlyn felt that she should be cautious.

"You woke up!" exclaimed the girl with a bright smile on her face. "I was worried when I found you unconscious in the plains," she explained further, with the kind smile still on her face. "My name is Lyn, and I am from the Lorca tribe. Don't worry, you are safe here." She paused slightly, and then asked, "I'm assuming that you have a name that I can call you by…?"

This brought back the memories of the plains and her incident with her name. Then she realized that the voice that spoke to her wasn't her own. She was about to dive into thought about it, when she noticed that the girl, Lyn, was still looking at her. "I'll have to delve into that later," she vowed to herself.

"My name is Kaitlyn," she muttered, still not completely trusting this stranger. However, she did relax a bit; concluding that an enemy wouldn't have gone to the trouble of putting her in a bed, and that if Lyn had wanted to hurt her, she could have done so while she slept.

"Kaitlyn? That's a strange name… Oh, sorry! It's not a bad name, per say, it's just a unique one," Lyn explained. "I can see by your clothes that you are a traveler. What brings you all the way out to the Sacrea plains?" she questioned.

After some debating, Kaitlyn was going to tell her that she was traveling to become a better tactician, when there was a clanging noise out in the distance, followed by a grunt. Both Lyn and Kaitlyn's eyes flew to the door.

"What was that? Hold on I'm going to go check it out. You stay here, seeing as how you may not be fully recovered yet," Lyn yelled as she ran out the door, her hand clenching her sword handle. After a few moments she ran back in, eyes wide and sword partially unsheathed.

"Bandits," she exclaimed, "They must have come down from the Bern Mountains! However, it didn't look like there were many of them, so I think that I can hold my own against them. You stay here, and you'll be safe." She was about to run out again when Kaitlyn yelled, "Wait!"

Lyn turned around, obviously wanting to dash off as soon as possible. Kaitlyn didn't even know why she had stopped this stranger, but any mistrust that she had had was now replaced with worry. "I want to go with you," Kaitlyn pleaded.

Lyn's eyes got wide, and she asked, "Why? You are in no condition to fight, and I don't want you to get in harm's way. Just stay here and I'll be back quicker than you'll know it." She was about to take off again when Kaitlyn got up and started to run towards her. While her legs were still a little unstable and she nearly fell, she managed to catch herself and stand next to Lyn.

"I don't need to fight, I'm a tactician," she explained. "I will help you to make sure that YOU won't get hurt. Don't worry about me; I'll stay out of the immediate fight." She looked at Lyn. Lyn paused for a second, judging the situation.

"Tactician by trade? That's a bit odd. But if you are confident that you won't get hurt and you can help, then I'll let you come. But we must hurry now! Let's go," she yelled over her shoulder as she started running, but there was no need to, because Kaitlyn was already running behind her.

After a moment, they stopped on a hill. There they saw two bandits running amuck and attacking people. While some people did try to stop them, their pitchforks and other tools were no match for the bandit's axes. Luckily, the bandits didn't seem intent on killing them yet; they were just injuring them so that they wouldn't be able to fight back.

Lyn scowled and turned toward Kaitlyn. "Listen, stay close to me and I'll protect you. Now if you have any advice, just tell me." With that she paused to see if Kaitlyn had understood and to see if she had anything. But Kaitlyn was only half listening; she was scanning the enemies to see if she could find anything.

First thing that she saw was that both of the bandits were similar in rank and age, but judging by the fact that one had less scars scars and the bigger satchel that the other one had, that he was the leader, if only just. She was worried about him, because the less scars meant that he was a better fighter. So she switched her focus to the other one, who was closer anyway.

"The one closer to us has thick furs on, which will slow him down. Also, he has an axe on him, so your sword should have an advantage over that. Finally, it looks like he has bandages on his axe-wielding arm indicating some injury, although whether it was an accident or from fighting I can't tell. The bandage, combined with the furs should slow him down enough to be able to dispose of him fairly easily," Kaitlyn explained as quickly as possible.

Lyn stared at her for a second, and then she recovered and yelled, "I hope you're right! Let's go!" Together they ran forward, and Lyn drew her sword. The motion caught the bandit's attention, and he started to run forward.

When they got close, the bandit swung his axe over his head and brought it down for an executioner-style chop. But he was slowed down from the furs and injury, as Kaitlyn predicted. This created an opportunity for Lyn to swing her sword up to catch the bottom of the axe, and then swing it around. After the axe had left his hand, Lyn quickly disposed of the bandit.

This however, caught the second bandit's attention, and he also started to run towards the pair. Kaitlyn quickly analyzed the bandit. He had many less scars then the first, and seemed to have fewer furs, so while he was slowed, it was insignificant. While looking for any more details, she spotted his weapon. It had chips in it all along the wooden handle, probably from strikes he managed to block with his axe. However, there were so many that they had started to carve away at the wood.

Kaitlyn yelled quickly to Lyn, "His handle is weak! A strong blow should be able to make it useless, and then you'll be able to strike!" Lyn nodded and then she held her sword at the ready as the bandit approached. Then when he was just about to get Lyn into his attack range, she ran forward at him.

But ran wasn't quite the word to use, seeing as how it didn't accurately describe how fast she moved. She moved so fast that it was hard to follow her, and Kaitlyn was sure that if she hadn't been that close and if her eyes weren't as good as they were, it would almost look like she had disappeared entirely. She swung at the bandit and stopped a few meters later. At almost the same time, the bandit's axe snapped in half, and blood sprayed from his chest. He looked at his chest in disbelief, and turned around to look at Lyn, and he managed to struggle out, "How…?" before he kneeled down, and then fell to the ground, dead.

Lyn panted and put her sword away. When Lyn looked at Kaitlyn, she could see that she was just as surprised at what had happened as she was, but just trying to hide that. But she failed, and both smiled and started to laugh. But then they heard a groan come from the village, and so they ran towards it.

After helping out the villagers get their things back and helped the wounded, they went back to Lyn's round hut, a "ger" as Lyn explained. There they both ate a quick meal, and decided to sleep.

* * *

The next morning when Kaitlyn got up, Lyn was already awake and making breakfast for them. "Good morning Kaitlyn! That fight yesterday must have taken a lot out of you, you were so fast asleep that I feared that you might be dead!" They both laughed and Lyn gave Kaitlyn some breakfast. After they had finished eating, Lyn set down her bowl. "So Kaitlyn," she began hesitantly, "I have to ask you something." After a slight moment, Kaitlyn nodded consent and motioned for her to continue. Lyn paused again and then continued, "After yesterday it became rather obvious that you have some experience in the ways of… well war. And I just wanted to ask… can I join you?" She asked, getting gradually faster and louder, until at the end she nearly shouted.

Kaitlyn looked at her for a moment, taking into full account that they had literally just met yesterday, and now Lyn trusted her enough to ask if she could travel together. It was astounding progress, and Kaitlyn knew how hard it must have been for her to ask that. Still, Kaitlyn wanted to make sure that this wasn't just some spur of the moment. "Umm, shouldn't you ask your parents or something like that," she asked.

At that, Lyn's eyes turned sad, and she looked off to the side and started to stare. "My parents… have been dead for six months now. My tribe, Lorca, was attacked by bandits. There were so many of them… anyway my father, the chieftain, tried to fight them off, but…" she trailed off and just stopped for a minute. Then she came back to the present and continued. "My people, they were old fashioned, and I was not only young in their eyes, but they also refused to follow a girl into battle. In the end… well, I was the only one to escape. I am the last of my people." At that, she looked like she wanted to cry.

But then her eyes became solid and she straightened her back and continued. "I will cry no more. No more tears of mine will be shed. But I must become stronger, so that I can live and avenge my father's… no, my people's death. Yesterday, I realized that I won't get any stronger staying inside by myself. So please, take me with you, so that we may both become stronger," she pleaded to Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn paused for a moment to think, and then smiled and stated, "I'd be happy to have you come!" Lyn stared at her in disbelief for a second and then smiled even bigger then she had when Kaitlyn had first woken up the day before. She laughed and thanked Kaitlyn over and over, until she decided that she had better pack.

While Lyn packed some clothes for her and some of her older ones for Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn sat thinking, only sometimes coming out of her trance to say whether or not she liked something. While she was thinking, she thought back to the voice that she heard in the plains. After thinking for a moment and confirming that she didn't recognize the voice in anyway and couldn't think of anyone who could have said it, she concluded that there was nothing she could do about it. "Whatever that voice is, it doesn't matter now. I can't spend all my time thinking about something that I can't know." And with that, she got up, and went over to help Lyn pack. Whatever the future held for Kaitlyn, she knew that it was going to be interesting.

* * *

**First chapter of first fic: Complete! This turned out much longer then I expected, and according to people who beta'd it, a lot better than we all expected, so hoorah! I hope that this becomes easier as it goes on, because it was hard, although not as hard as I expected. Also, don't be too shocked if the length goes down a bit, and don't be surprised if it goes up a bit either. It could honestly go either way, especially seeing how I haven't done this before... anyway, I'll try to update as soon as possible, although I'm not going to promise any date right now because I'm in the writing mood right now so I might get to work on the next chapter, but if I have stuff to do then I could easily pass any date that I set. Right now I'm hoping for the weekend at the latest, but don't hold me to that! Please review, and get ready for a journey.**

**-King35763**

**By the way, I'll be putting quotes here in future chaps, because I really liked when Cormag did that, so I will do the same unless people are like STOP QUOTING.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fire emblem, although it would be cool if I did

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Kaitlyn and Lyn were walking along a trail on their way to Bulgar, the largest trading city in all of Sacae. They were planning on stopping to gather supplies for their journey out of Sacae. They were in no rush, taking their time as they walked along the dirt path, talking about themselves so that they could get to know each other better.

After a couple of hours they stopped on a hill as the town came into site. It was a large town, much larger than the village that they had saved just the day before. From where they stood, they could also tell that it was a lot busier, with people hustling about to and fro. Lyn turned towards Kaitlyn and stated with a slight smile, "We should stay close together. It would be troublesome if we got separated, and I have a feeling that it would also be a bother to find each other again."

Kaitlyn smiled and nodded back, and together they started down the hill towards the town. Kaitlyn estimated that they would get there in about an hour. But now they weren't talking quite as much, because they were more on the alert, keeping their eyes out for thugs or gangs who were hanging about the city to prey on helpless travelers. On the open road they had been the same with bandits, but less so because the bandits in the area mainly stayed around and on the Bern Mountains. And so this was how they were until they got to the gates of the town.

* * *

Once inside the city, the pair of travelers realized that it was much busier than it had seemed on the hill. People were hustling about to and fro, street vendors calling out goods from behind their stalls and trying to get people to buy their goods. Kaitlyn leaned over to Lyn and whispered, "It's a bit different then what the last village was like," which made Lyn giggle. Already in their short time together they had grown to be close friends, and they knew little things that would make the other laugh and small details like that.

They wound their ways through the streets of Bulgar, stopping here and there to pick up fruits or cured meat. On their travels around the city, Lyn stopped in front of a clothes shop. "You need some new clothes, because you don't have anything other than your outfit that you had on the day you woke up and my old clothes and those won't hold long. Come on, you need something new at least," she chided as she practically dragged Kaitlyn inside the store.

It was dark but warm inside the shop. Behind the counter sat a woman with scarlet hair, and eyes and clothes to match. She smiled as the two walked in and greeted them with a, "Welcome to my shop. If you need anything, just ask," and she went back to the book that she was reading. Inside the shop there were clothes to choose from all around, although there were the men's section with the baggy pants and shirts and the women's section with dresses and the like. It was the latter one that Lyn dragged Kaitlyn into as she started to move towards the men's section.

On their way through looking at the various dresses, they passed by a mirror, and Kaitlyn looked at herself in it for a second. She had long, forest-moss green hair that spiked out at the top, and eyes of a deep blue, the kind that looked like sapphires glinting when the sun hits the jewel just right. She was medium height, a little shorter than Lyn. While she didn't think of herself as beautiful, she could see that she wasn't ugly. And while her body was average, you couldn't tell very well because of the cloak that she had on.

It was the cloak that she had woken up in, and she had worn it every day since. It went down to her shins, and was black with stripes of blue running down it, the lines crossing and intersecting with each other to form a distinct pattern. She loved that cloak, how it captured the eye when you looked at it, how comfortable it was, and how it could be worn on nearly whatever the weather was as long as it was mild.

Then she realized that she must have been standing there for a bit longer than she intended because Lyn shook her with a, "Hey Kaitlyn, come back down from whatever mystical plain you watch the rest of us mortals from," and a smile. Kaitlyn smiled back for a second, until she remembered where they were, and she scowled again as they started to look through the dresses again.

They had gone through every dress in the store, but Kaitlyn hadn't been able to find a single one that she really liked. While she was fine wearing a dress, even though she wore pants when she could, she only wore them if she felt like they matched with her, and she didn't really like any of them. But Lyn was determined to get her something, and so there she was trying to find all the ones that Kaitlyn wasn't as opposed to.

It was then that the shopkeeper coughed and got their attention. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I didn't mean to snoop or intrude or anything, but you seem to be having troubles finding clothes." At a sigh and nod in conferment from Lyn, she continued, "I happen to be a seamstress, and seeing as I don't have anything to do right now, I might be able to make you something."

Kaitlyn and Lyn looked at each other briefly before protesting. "I would love to, but I don't want to take up your time," objected Kaitlyn, "Plus we are planning on leaving as soon as we can, and I fear that it will slow us down." Lyn nodded in agreement, although she looked as though she really wanted to see what the seamstress would make.

"Oh it's no trouble at all," interjected the seamstress, "I can see that you guys aren't quite finished with your shopping yet. I work very fast, and should be able to make you something within the hour. You run about your errands, and come back before you leave the city and I'll have something for you."

Kaitlyn was about to object again when Lyn cut in. "If it will only take an hour, than we can do that," she admitted, "We will do as you say, and come back when we our done. Now do you need to take measurements before we go?"

Kaitlyn looked at Lyn like she was crazy, and was about to ask her what was going on when the shopkeeper chided, "Oh no need. I have everything I need already," eyes glinting slightly. At that Lyn nodded and smiled and took Kaitlyn out the way that she came in, practically dragging her.

* * *

Once they were outside, and Kaitlyn had a second to dust herself off, she turned and scowled at Lyn. "What was that about Lyn?" she questioned coldy.

Lyn however, didn't back down and squarely responded, "I was determined on getting you something, and it was obvious that you weren't too fond of anything in there. Well," she continued after Kaitlyn started to object, "anything in there that would have been suited for you without drawing attention to yourself."

Kaitlyn didn't have a response to that, and she supposed that she appreciated the thought, so she decided to nod her agreement begrudgingly. It was then that they heard a voice call out to them from the nearby area, "Oh gods, what a stunning amount of beauty!" At this Lyn and Kaitlyn turned to see a man coming towards them.

He was tall, and had green, well everything. His hair was green although more of a dusty shade then Kaitlyn's, his eyes were the same, and his armor was an emerald green. He walked towards them with a smile on his face and his hands held towards them, in a revering manner. "May I have the pleasure of your name, or even better yet, your company?" he asked.

Lyn didn't seem to like the stranger at all. "And who are you, that you speak so freely to strangers in this manner?" she questioned, not giving him an inch. Kaitlyn giggled. This was going to be an interesting encounter.

The man didn't miss beat for one second. "I thought that you wouldn't ask! I come from Lycia, more specifically from the Caelin canton, home to men who's passionate fire burns brightly!" he proclaimed loudly with a large grin.

Lyn wasn't changed by his words at all, "More like home of men who don't know when to stop talking." At this the man's grin faltered slightly, but he just as quickly he recovered and was about to respond when all of a sudden, a sharp voice came, "Sain, hold your tongue, you oaf!"

At this another man dressed similarly to the man, Sain, came up to stand next to him. He had orange hair, eyes like drying earth, and armor like fire. Also, instead of smiling as his companion did, he was scowling. He seemed to be Sain's almost polar opposite.

Sain turned and cheerfully said to the other knight, "Ah Kent, my friend! Why are you so severe all the time? You should learn to relax! All of this pent up anger can't be good for you my friend!"

Kent ignored him and instead turned towards Kaitlyn and Lyn. He bowed slightly and said to them "I apologize for my fellow knight. He cannot hold his tongue, but I can assure you that not all knights from Caelin are like him and hope that his actions may not reflect on our group."

Lyn smiled at this speech, and Kaitlyn knew that Lyn liked this person a lot more. She was about to respond when Sain interrupted, "Oh, come on that's a little harsh isn't it? I was just having a bit of fun with these beautiful ladies," turning towards Kaitlyn and Lyn at the last part.

Kent whirled around to face him, "You forget your place! We are on a mission! Did you happen to forget that? You can fool around with girls afterwards!"

Lyn now looked as if she wanted to speak again, but then Sain spoke again, "Yes I realize fully that I can pick up any girls I want later. But none of their beauties could compare to the two in front of me!"

Kent was about to make some retort to that when Lyn interrupted. "Excuse me," she yelled to get the two to look at her, "We would much like to pass by, and both of your horses are blocking the road. So if you would be so kind as to move them, we would be on our way!"

Both men looked stunned for a moment, but then nodded and moved their horses aside. "My apologies that you would even need to ask, my lady." Lyn smiled at him as they started to walk past.

"Well," she started, "it seems that perhaps not all men from Lycia are so loose." Right then, Kent squinted at her as if remembering something, and then grabbed her hand.

Lyn looked as if she was about to protest, when Kent interrupted, "My apologies, but you seem to stir something in my memories. Have we met somewhere before?"

Lyn looked confused and said, "No, I don't believe we."

It was here that Sain cut in, "No fair Kent! Not only did I find her first, but you JUST yelled at me for doing the same thing!" At this, Lyn's eyes got hard like they did when she was mad, and she pulled her arm away.

"I take back everything I just said. Come on Kaitlyn, we don't need to spend any more time around these two!" and she stormed off. Kaitlyn started after her, then turned to face the two knights, and mouthed, "I'm sorry," and then went back to following Lyn.

Kent stared off to where they had went for a moment, and then his eyes grew wide as some revelation came to him. He turned to Sain and yelled, "You imbecile! Do you even know who that was?" When Sain couldn't respond, Kent continued, "That was our mission, we must hurry now!" When Sain heard this he turned pale and nodded. They both practically leapt onto their horses and galloped after them.

* * *

They were approaching the outskirts of town, Lyn still angrily stomping away and Kaitlyn trying to catch up. "Lyn wait!" she cried as she tried to catch up, falling behind in the crowd.

Lyn turned around, and realized that Kaitlyn was struggling to actually get through the crowd. This made Lyn smile, if only a little. She fought her way back through the crowd and grabbed Kaitlyn's hand. "Come, I just want to get out of the city quick to get my head clear."

Once outside the city, Lyn began to breath more normally. "The nerve of some people," Kaitlyn heard her mutter. While Kaitlyn didn't fully understand why Lyn was so angry, but she felt that she should try and get her to settle down. However right when she was about to say something, they heard the sound of something in the grass behind them.

They whirled around to see a group of men standing there, with one man at the front. They all wore furs, carried axes, and very obviously bandits. Lyn put her hand on her sword and Kaitlyn took a step back, trying to find which of the men to try and analyze first, when the man at front spoke up. "You there, girl, your name is Lyndis is it not?" he asked, in a very thick accent.

Lyn's body stiffened up. "What did you just call me?" her eyes open in shock. The man laughed at this and motioned to his men, and they started to spread out and draw their weapons.

"It's such a waste. However, I got paid good money for this job, so unfortunately I am going to have to… well, waste you," he said with a malevolent grin.

At this, two of his men ran forward to attack. Lyn drew her sword as fast as the wind and was blocked the first one and stabbed him in the chest, but she wasn't going to be able to swing her sword fast enough to stop the second one.

Time itself seemed to slow, as the bandit's axe was about to swing home, Lyn's sword swinging down to try to stop it but slow, much to slow. Right then, there were the sound of hooves, the sound of metal clanging rang out, and blood sprayed from the bandit's chest as two shadows passed by.

All of the bandits froze, and the shadows stopped their charge in front of the pair. "Well, it looks like we meet again, gorgeous ladies." This made Lyn smile, and she responded, "It seems that you have learned at least some manners, Sain is it?" This made both Sain and Kent smile. But then they turned towards the leader of the group. "Such numbers to attack two people, and women at that? That is shameful!" Sain roared at him. At this, the bandits turned and ran, for they knew that they couldn't take on two knights together.

"Cowards," Kent muttered under his breath and then turned towards Kaitlyn and Lyn, "I apologize, ladies. I will explain later, but now we much go attack those bandits."

He turned his horse around and started to motion to Sain when Lyn shouted, "So we are to stay back and do nothing? No, they are after me, and I will help you fight them off!" At this the two knights glanced at each other.

Kaitlyn then followed up, "I know it may seem strange to you at first, but I am a tactician by trade, and I will try to guide you."

Again the two of them glanced at each other, and then after a silent conversation between them, Sain nodded his agreement. "Alrighty then, where should we go?"

Kaitlyn scanned the area for the fleeing bandits. "More of them are heading towards the south, so you and Kent should head there. Me and Kaitlyn will head towards the east. Swing around to meet us about halfway, it looks like the leader is heading that way." Lyn nodded in agreement, but Kent and Sain looked astonished for a second, not used to those kinds of details and a plan so quick. But Kent recovered and nodded in confirmation, and then he and Sain galloped off in the direction Kaitlyn had told them. Lyn and Kaitlyn looked at each other for a moment, and then ran off in the other way.

The first few bandits in the back of the group fell easily to Lyn's blade seeing as how they were still running. But then the others turned around after hearing the noises behind them, and seeing Lyn, drew their axes. Kaitlyn stood away back, calling out bits of useful information from time to time, and whenever one of the bandits made a move towards her Lyn cut them down.

After a couple minutes of this, the bandits had been cut down, and Lyn needed to take a quick break. They then heard the sound of hooves, and they turned to see Sain coming towards them, a deep gash on his arm between his armor plate.

"Ah here you are! I was wondering if I would find you," he said, with a weak smile on his face. Kaitlyn ran towards him, and helped him off his horse, despite his protests. When they looked closer, they realized how deep it was, and Lyn pulled out her medicinal vulnerary and started to apply it. When she finished applying it, Sain sighed with relief. "Thank you, my sweet. Your healing, hands have brought me relief."

Lyn's concern immediately turned into a cool irritation. "While I don't really approve of that kind of behavior at any time, I especially don't think that it's appropriate right now. And where is Kent?"

At this, Sain's eyes grew wide. "Oh gods on-, come on, we must hurry! I don't think that he can hold his own for long!" He jumped back on his horse, despite Kaitlyn's concern. They all turned and went forward at full speed towards where they were planning on meeting.

* * *

Once they got there, they saw the leader and a few other bandits standing on a hill, watching Kent try to fight off the swarm of bandits that surrounded him. Sain was about to run towards him when Lyn shouted for him to stop and turned towards Kaitlyn. "What should we do?" Kaitlyn looked between the two groups of enemies, and then decided. We need to save Kent. Not only is he our ally, but he is also a powerful one. But we must hurry! He may be fast, but there are many of them!" Lyn nodded her approval, and they made for Kent.

When they were about halfway to him, one of the bandits backed away from the group and pulled a spear off of his back. Kaitlyn wondered why, seeing how Kent also had a spear, but then she realized that it wasn't just any spear. It was a javelin, and the bandit was getting ready to throw it. Fear ran through her, and she yelled at the top of her lungs, "KENT, LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!" Kent heard if only barely, and turned to look at them for a second until he fully comprehended and whipped around. But as he turned to face the threat, the javelin hit him, and he flew off of his horse.

Sain stopped his horse in disbelief. Then he yelled, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO". His yell of pure despair yang out through the clearing, making the bandits turn towards him and smile, that they could cause him pain like that. The leader of the bandits laughed and yelled, "There goes the first of you, and now the rest shall follow! Go on, attack them!" And the group of bandits that just were attacking Kent all ran towards them, weapons drawn and yelling their savage battle cry.

Lyn looked at Sain, worried that maybe he would be unable to battle, but he looked back and said, "I'm not fine, if that's what you are wondering, milady. But I swear… to the gods above… that I will kill those who murdered my friend, the one who was so concerned about me that he gave me his spare sword, which might have saved his life. I swear on this sword, this ends NOW!" With that, he drew the sword that Kent had given to him and charged at the group of bandits, with a battle cry that was just as savage as theirs.

Lyn looked at Kaitlyn, obviously worried, and hurried to go and make sure he didn't do anything too reckless. But she was late, and Sain had already met with the bandits. However, it didn't matter, because Sain was fighting like a demon. Anyone who came close enough to his sword would meet death within two strikes. While Lyn joined the fray, Sain still was cutting down the bandits as fast as a scythe cutting down blades of wheat.

But then once again, one of them dethatched themselves from the battle and drew the javelin from their back. Kaitlyn yelled again, and Sain turned around faster then she thought would have been humanly possible. Without a second of pause, he pushed Lyn down to the ground before dodging to the other side, and the javelin missed both of them.

But Sain didn't stop there, because he then picked the javelin from the ground, and while doing that cut someone from their belly to their collarbone, and turned around once again. With an expression of what could only be described as primal rage, he threw the javelin back at the bandit, and squarely pierced him through the chest, directly between his lungs. The man flew backwards, his feet leaving the ground, and he was dead before he hit the ground.

* * *

After another minute of the all-out brawl, the last bandit was slain by a quick block by Lyn, and then stabbed through the heart. The group then joined back up and looked at the hill where the leader was standing. He was still grinning though, and he yelled down to them, "While there have been more of them, I have the best fighters up here with me. And I am much stronger then all of them! So come up here, to your dooms!"

Sain drew in a deep breath and looked to Kaitlyn. "You're judgment has been right so far, and so I will ask you how to proceed." Kaitlyn looked at Sain with new respect, knowing that Sain wanted to do nothing more than to charge at all of them. But then she looked back towards the bandits to try and find any weaknesses.

"They are uphill, so they think that that will give them an advantage. However, Lyn, you can block upwards axe strikes fairly well from what I've from your fighting style. So I will send you up the front of the hill. However, Sain, you will be at a disadvantage because of your horse. I want you to go out to the right about 50 meters or so, and then arc around to the top of the hill. It's the more gradual climb up to the top, plus then we'll have an advantage of an assault from both the front and the back. Lyn, because we are waiting for Sain also, you should run towards them, but do not engage them unless you need to." Both of them nodded and then started running towards their specified places.

"Going to charge us straight on, eh little Lyndis?" the leader said with a laugh. "I didn't expect such arrogance from an inexperienced youth like you." With that he motioned forward one of his men, who drew two iron axes. This worried Kaitlyn; because as far as she knew, Lyn hadn't faced someone who could duel wield, and didn't know if she could change her style to compensate for both of them. But Lyn didn't falter at all, and continued to charge forward, but she did slow her pace to compensate for the fact that Sain hadn't made it up there yet. Sain had started to make his ascent up the hill, and at the pace Lyn was going, they would reach at about the same time.

And then the axe-man ran towards Lyn, abandoning his better positioning for his bloodlust. He ran down and swung one axe downwards towards Lyn's shin, and the other one swinging back for a more powerful strike. This gave Lyn an opportunity to block the axe that was going for her shins, and then strike the bandit in the arm that was bringing the other axe forward. In that one swift maneuver, Lyn didn't just survive; she effectively brought her opponent to a familiar fighting style to her and an unfamiliar one to him. With only one axe, he was pretty much useless, so Lyn quickly disposed of him.

But Kaitlyn forgot to look to see if Sain was doing well. But she didn't even need to worry. The bandits had stopped to watch their friend fight, and Sain had been able to get behind them and slaughter all of them except the leader. The leader, however, was easily holding his own against Sain, which was worrying. Lyn was also tired from all of her sprinting, so she was slowing down. Kaitlyn yelled for her to stop, "Take a rest before you get herself killed!" Lyn nodded in appreciation, and slowed down, keeping her eyes on the bandit leader at all times.

Sain kept on fighting the bandit, never ceasing his assault. But the bandit wasn't having any difficulty deflecting his blows. However, he was slowly backing up, which could turn out to be advantageous.

But then the bandit went on the offensive, and quickly attacked Sain's weak arm. Sain started backing up faster than the bandit had. Then the bandit got a quick bash to Sain's chest, knocking him off his horse. He then walked forward and knocked Sain's sword from his hand with a kick. "You put up a somewhat good fight, I'll admit. But I win this fight, and soon I will kill Lyndis over there. This is goodbye," and he raised his axe above his head, planning to decapitate Sain outright. Lyn yelled and started to run forward, but there would be no way to reach him in time. The bandit smiled and started to swing the axe down.

But right then, a javelin pierced through him, right through his gut, and he gasped and dropped his axe. That gave Lyn enough time to finish getting up the hill and cut him across his chest. The bandit fell to his knees, and looked Lyn in the eye and sputtered out, "I… won't be the… last or… the hardest…" and with that he fell to the ground.

Lyn and Sain looked to see how Kaitlyn had managed to throw the javelin. But when they looked down the hill, they instead saw Kent there, Kaitlyn helping hold him up. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything," Kent said with a small smile, and Sain froze, and then left his horse behind as he ran to Kent. Kent stopped him though, because he HAD been stabbed through his side with a javelin. Sain instead went over to his other arm and helped keep him supported. Together, Kaitlyn and Sain helped Kent down the hill, while Lyn got their horses. If Kaitlyn could see Lyn's face, she would have recognized that she was deeply touched by Sain's loyalty to his friend. Together, they made their way back into town.

* * *

After getting back into town, they immediately went to the nearest doctor. There, the doc said that only one of them could stay and the other two should wait in the front. Lyn and Kaitlyn had decided to let Sain stay, and so they sat in the chairs in the front area. They were talking when Lyn suddenly swore. "How long has it been? We are late to get your clothes!" and although Kaitlyn didn't want to go, she followed Lyn to the store they had visited what seemed like a week ago.

Once they walked in, they were immediately greeted by the store keeper. "I didn't think that your errands would take so long, but I am glad that they did, because I wasn't quite finished within the hour. But I got done, and it's in the back. Come on, I'll show you," and she opened a door to the back. Kaitlyn glanced at Lyn in a way that said, "Do I really have to?" and walked through the door.

"I'm sorry that it's kind of clustered, I spend a lot of time back here," the shopkeeper explained. "It's right around the corner… ah here we are!" and she turned a corner. Kaitlyn stopped, and motioned for Lyn to go first. Lyn sighed and shook her head, but went on ahead anyway. However, once she turned the corner, she gasped very loudly. Kaitlyn grew worried, and thought of what the most hideous result could be, and turned the corner.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw there. It was a dress alright, but it wasn't poofy, and it wasn't form fitting, it was somewhere in between. It was black, but there were golden lines running along the dress, just like her cloak, except in a different pattern. The dress went to about knee height, but any objection that Kaitlyn would have had to that height was extinguished by the fact that there were also a pair of pants, that would hug her legs but again wouldn't be tight, and it had a design on it with the color of rubies.

Kaitlyn touched the clothes that were in front of her. "They're beautiful," she muttered, but then she turned towards the storekeeper. "How much does this cost?" she asked, wondering what price would be on the outfit.

The shopkeeper smiled and put her finger to her chin. "Hmm let's see. It's custom-made, so that will be… and it's also of very high quality material… I would say, 1000 gold, to keep it even."

Kaitlyn's jaw pretty much hit the floor. She was about to object that there were steel swords that sold for less when Lyn interjected, "We'll take it," and reached into her pack and pulled out the money necessary. The storekeeper took it, counted it quickly, and then nodded and motioned to the clothes. Lyn then took them and handed them to Kaitlyn the clothes.

They started to walk out when, the shopkeeper said, "that wasn't all you paid for!" They turned around surprised, and there was the shopkeeper, holding a belt with knife and sheath. Kaitlyn slowly grabbed it, and pulled the knife out of the sheath.

There was a plain description on the blade, "Be proud of what you have done." Kaitlyn's eyes almost started watering, thinking how well the encryption worked for her. "Thank you so much…?" Kaitlyn started, and then realized that they had never gotten her name.

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "My name is Anna, and I have a feeling that we will meet again. I wish you well on your travels, and hope that you don't use that knife except when you need to." And with that, she walked further into the back, dismissing both of them.

* * *

Kaitlyn put on her new clothes, and then they made their way back to the doctor. Right when they walked in, Sain came out of the back. "There you are, come, we must talk." He then saw Kaitlyn's new clothes, and looked her up and down before winking and going back. At that, Lyn made a frustrated sigh, and walked in the back, with Kaitlyn right behind her.

Kent was in a bed, looking drowsy but determined to stay awake. When Kaitlyn and Lyn walked in, he turned to face them and smiled. They came to stand at the end of the bed. "How are you doing?" Lyn asked.

"I'll be able to travel within two hours, although the doctor says that it should be at least 24," Kent said, grinning even more. But then he stopped and looked seriously at Lyn, "But we must talk about why we are here and why those men attacked you." Lyn and Kaitlyn looked at each other, then turned back to Kent and nodded for him to continue.

"We come from Caelin, and a couple of years back, the daughter of the Marquess eloped off with a nomad to the plains. For a while, the Marquess was very mad, and declared that he no longer had a daughter. But he slowly grew lonely, although he would never admit it. Then, one day about six months ago, we received word from her again. She said that she was happy living in the plains, but she missed him and she wanted him to meet his granddaughter. Overjoyed, the Marquess sent us to have them picked up immediately. But by the time that we arrived here, the tribe was already destroyed. We went back to town, and learned that the granddaughter had been the sole survivor. We sent word back to the Marquess of what had happened, and he responded that we were to look for her and to bring her to him. We have been trying to do that ever since, and we finally found you today. We are now your royal guard, and we will lead you to Lycia, and to your grandfather."

At the news, Lyn seemed to have the wind knocked out of her, and she stumbled back until she came up to the wall. "I have a grandfather?" she asked, mostly to herself. Then she looked back at Kent. "But that doesn't explain why we were attacked today."

Kent nodded gravely and then continued. "That's right, because your mother wasn't the only heir. Once she disappeared, her brother, your uncle, became the heir. He must have gotten word of your existence, and you have become a threat to him becoming Marquess. So I'm guessing that it was him that was behind the attack on your life. And I'm sorry, but it won't stop at that one. Once he learns that he failed there, he will probably try again. Also, word has come that the Marquess is sick. Which makes it even more important that Sain and I are with you, to protect you from what may happen, and get you to Lycia as fast as possible."

Lyn paused for a moment, and then nodded. "I would be glad to have both of you. We should leave when we can, if there is perhaps foul play behind my grandfather's sickness." And at that Kent nodded and then fell into sleep.

About three hours later, the group had the supplies that they would need to last for a while, and they set off towards Lycia, to get to Lyn's grandfather, and her plotting uncle.

* * *

**Author's Note: Well, this turned out longer than I expected! I actually thought that it dragged a bit, but I was assured that it helped establish character. Also, if you don't like things like the clothes shopping, please let me know, although I don't think I'll be doing too much of that in the future, it was actually mainly to give Kaitlyn more depth and to describe how she looked. So if you didn't like it, sorry but deal. Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and please review!**

**KING35763**

**"I have lived a long life, and I have seen a few things. I walked away from the last great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of a universe and I watched as time ran out. Moment by moment until nothing remained. No time, no space, just me! I walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a mad man. And I've watched universes freeze and creations burn. I have seen things you wouldn't believe. I have lost things you will never understand. And I know things, secrets that must never be told, knowledge that must never be spoken. Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze. So come on then! Take it!" - The Doctor, S7 E8.**


	3. Chapter 3

Kaitlyn, Lyn, Sain, and Kent were traveling through the plains, preparing to go on their journey. They decided to get to Lycia as soon as possible. The sooner that they could get there, the sooner that Lyn could see her grandfather and stop her crazy power-hungry uncle.

However, once they were sure that they had their necessary supplies, Lyn asked, "Kaitlyn, would you allow a small detour? There is a sacred sword in an alter just a bit east of here. The people of the Sacae plains go to pray there for a safe journey."

Kaitlyn didn't even stop to consider anything else. "Of course we can. We will need as much protection as we can on this trip. Especially seeing as how they're our guards!" she said, pointing over her shoulder at Sain and Kent.

At this, Sain frowned, "If you don't trust us to protect you, especially seeing as how we saved your hides at least three times at the fight with the bandits, then you have another thing coming for you!"

Kaitlyn just laughed and stuck out her tongue at them. Kent and Lyn laughed at the two of them arguing with each other, and the group started moving towards the altar.

* * *

The Shrine of the sacred sword had, as always, one priest and a couple of people preparing to set out on a journey. All of them were sitting around the sword and praying for a safe journey and to be able to return someday. Right then, a group of ruffians entered the temple.

The priest got up and started to object when the leader pulled out his sword and held it to the old man's throat. "Stay where you are old fool, and keep quiet. We don't want trouble, we just want the sword," he almost whispered. At this the priest eyes grew wide and he started to get red in his face.

"You can threaten me, but I won't give you the Mani Katti. It's a deeply spiritual blade, and under protection from the gods and spirits themselves. It cannot be moved from here." He shouted at the leader, at times angrily turning and pointing at one of the others in the group. The leader laughed at this, and then motioned to his gang. They pushed out the pilgrims, and then split into two groups, and one of the groups waited outside of the doors.

"You, old man, are a completely daft idiot. A sword is meant for combat, not to be worshiped to at some altar. You are depriving it of its purpose for existing. I'm just… freeing it from its current status," and with that he started walking up the stairs towards the sword. But before he could go up more than a couple of steps, the old priest dove in front of him.

"You want to use it in combat? It is a holy artifact, not just some tool to be used! Not only that, but the power of spirits and gods runs through the blade. If someone tried to use it, not only would they be committing sacrilege, they may injure themselves and everyone around them!"

"Sacrilege?" the bandit yelled at the priest, "I am Glass! Gods speak my name in whispers, in case I hear them and take offense! I am the best swordsman in this land, and if I want the best sword in the land, then it is the best sword that I shall have! Now get out of my way!" and with that Glass, with a sharp blow with his elbow to the temple, the old man crumpled and rolled down the stairs.

Glass climbed the stairs slowly, taking his time, partly to add to the effect, but also because he could feel a slight resistance, as if something was trying to keep him away. But he pushed past it, and was finally at the top of the stairs. There it was, the Mani Katti. He took his old sword and sheath and slid them into a holder on his back. Then he reached out and picked up the Mani Katti.

As soon as he touched the sword, sparks ran up and down the blade, and a cold wind blew out from it. The cold seemed to engulf glass, and it felt as if there were something in the wind, grabbing his, staring at him, and staring at his soul. Then, with a hissing noise, the wind and the sparks stopped.

With a smile, Glass picked up the sword, and then slid it home onto the holder on his belt. Right then, however, he heard the sound of clanging metal outside, followed by groaning and silence. Glass wasn't sure whether to curse or to be thankful, for while he assumed that he just lost half of his men, it did give him an opportunity to show these newcomers who carried the Mani Katti.

Glass smirked, and decided that he would let them live, and let them run and tell people of his power. "Yes," he thought to himself, "This is going to be a fun opportunity." Right then, the wall smashed open, and his attackers charged into the room.

* * *

Kaitlyn, Lyn, Sain, and Kent were making their way towards the altar when they saw a woman coming from the opposite direction. She saw them, and then ran over to them. "Excuse me," she started, "are you going to the altar in the east? To the altar of the Mani Katti?" At this, Lyn looked around at the group, and then nodded in affirmation.

"Thank the gods!" the woman exclaimed, "You must hurry! It was attacked by ruffians! They went to steal the sword, and they have the priest trapped inside! Please, you must go help him!" She grabbed Lyn by the shoulders and repeated her last statement.

Lyn shrugged the woman's arms off her shoulders and then said, "They are going to steal the Mani Katti? This cannot be allowed. Come, we go the priest's aid!" and with that, she started running towards her.

Kent and Sain looked at each other, and then rode and cut her off. "We can't endanger your life! It's our duty to get you back to your grandfather, and we must see it through!" Kent exclaimed.

Lyn looked him dead in the eye and retorted, "Yes, however, I have to help this man. I swore to get stronger, not just so that I could get revenge for my father's death, but also to protect the innocent. Now, if you are against me, then I'll just go to the altar the short way, through those mountains over there," Lyn stated, gesturing to the small mountains to their left, "You won't be able to follow me there. And while I have complete faith in Kaitlyn, it would be more dangerous for me to go and fight with just the two of us. So seeing as how I'm going to the fight anyway, you may as well come to help make sure that I'm guarded."

Once again, Kent and Sain looked at each other, and had a silent conversation in just a second. Then Sain turned towards Lyn and stated, "We can't let you go to the-." When Lyn stated to object, Kent cut in, "We can't let you go to the fight without the proper knowledge beforehand. There is a village just before the altar. If we can talk to some of those people, then perhaps we can learn something useful. Now come, it won't do us any good to go save the priest if he's already dead." And with that Kent grabbed Kaitlyn and pulled her onto his horse, and Sain did the same thing with Lyn. The group then galloped off towards the village and the altar.

* * *

Once they arrived in town, they divided the village into four sections, one for each member of the group. They decided to meet by the well by the center of the village. They ran off, each in search for information.

Kaitlyn knocked on the first door, and after a slight pause, the door opened and there was a very large, muscular man wearing a leather apron and gloves. On his belt there were tongs, a hammer, and other tools. From this, Kaitlyn knew that she was dealing with a blacksmith, although she could have assumed so just from his muscles.

He glowered down at her. "Make it fast," he rumbled "I have a sword in the oven, and I must make sure that it doesn't break." At this, he turned around and angled his body to see the sword as best as he could. Then he turned back to her. "Well, go on," he demanded.

Kaitlyn tried her best to look him in the eye, but found it difficult to. "A group of ruffians attacked the altar containing the Mani Katti. The priest was trapped inside, and we wish to help him. Might you have any information that might help us?" she asked.

At this the man almost downright glared. "No," he snipped, "and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. I will not encourage young kids run off to throw their lives away. Now if you'll excuse me, I've wasted enough time here. My sword in the oven might have weakened by now, and I have another one that needs forming. Good day." With that, he turned and slammed the door behind him.

And Kaitlyn had similar responses at all the other houses. Some people had information that might be helpful, but they refused to share it, probably out of fear of the ruffians. So it was like this, with no information that Kaitlyn made her way to the center of the village.

* * *

Kaitlyn was the last one to arrive, and she flopped down onto the side of the fountain. She looked around at the others. "Well, I got nothing. How about you guys?" she asked. Each one looked dejected, and obviously hadn't learned much. Kent was about to speak, when all of a sudden, there was the sound of someone clearing their voice, but it honestly sounded as if there were some kind of rock avalanche. The group looked up, and there stood the blacksmith, with two wrapped packages in his arms.

Kaitlyn got up and was about to ask him what he was doing there, when the blacksmith held up a hand. "I just came here to apologize for what I said earlier," he started to explain, "I have a son in the army, and I hate never knowing if he's dead or alive. However, I realized that if you were truly determined to go and save the priest, then it wouldn't matter if I gave you nothing to work on. So, I've decided to help you the best that I can." And with that he pulled out the two packages from under his arms.

The first one he handed to Kaitlyn, and motioned for her to open it. Inside was a beautiful sword, light and fast. There was an inscription on the blade, Ice Risastór. When Kaitlyn asked for what it meant, the blacksmith replied, "It means ice giant in the tongue of my ancestors. But that is not the only blade I have for your group," and with that he unwrapped the second package.

Inside was another sword, but it must have been heavier than ice risastór, for when he handed it to Sain, Kaitlyn saw the sword dip for a moment before Sain held it up so that he could inspect it. "That one is Hvítur Úlfur, or white wolf. It is a much heavier blade, so use it wisely." The blacksmith looked at them for a second, and then said, "Well, that's all I've got for you, don't get yourselves killed out there, because then my weapons will get a bad name." and with that he started to walk off.

The group looked at each other in stunned silence for a couple of moments before Sain broke the silence. "Well that was nice of him!" he said before he grabbed ice risastór. "Hmmm, I think I like the ice giant better. I'll take it!" Then with a glare from Lyn, "If that's quite alright with everyone else in the group."

Kaitlyn shrugged her shoulders, knowing that she wouldn't be using either one, even if she got them. She wasn't the sword kind of person. It was too… impractical, and can be very inaccurate. She liked a weapon of a little more… finesse, such as her knife, but she knew that she needed to get a better weapon, because a knife would not hold well on its own in a fight.

Lyn nodded her own approval after muttering something about how she already had a blade. Kent then held his hand out so that he could inspect and get a feel for each blade. After quickly testing both, he handed ice risastór back to Sain. "I like the feel of the heavier blade. It will put more power in my attack."

After the two knights had put away their new weapons, Kaitlyn then asked the group about what they had learned. Sain spoke up first, "I didn't get anything useful, just some history about the sword. Mani Katti, blessed by spirits, won't be wielded by anyone other than who it chooses stuff like that." Lyn frowned at the last part, but said nothing.

Kent spoke next, "I learned about the mountains around here. They would be very difficult to cross on foot, and impossible to do on horse. However, they are useful because not only do you get the advantage of surprise, you also have higher ground. We should try and use this to our advantage.

Lyn spoke last, "I was told that if the thugs were any good, and they should if they think that they are worthy of the Mani Katti, than they will have the main entrance covered. This is the only," she paused, "_official _entrance. However, apparently one of the walls was falling apart. It may be broken through with a strong enough blow."

Kaitlyn sat down for a second to try and gather all the information and try to put it into a strategy to face the ruffians. Then she looked up at the group and smiled a sly smile. Sain groaned, "We aren't going to like this are we?"

Kaitlyn huffed a little bit at that, then stopped and considered it. "No," she decided, "you probably won't like it. But you will afterwards." And with that, she would say no more.

* * *

They rode fast for the altar, and they stopped when it got into sight. Lyn and Kaitlyn dismounted, and then the group turned towards Kaitlyn for further instruction. Kaitlyn told them her plan. As she told them, their eyes gradually got wider in disbelief. When she finished, Sain immediately objected. "Are you mad? That would put Lyn in serious danger! Plus, this whole plan relies on the fact that the leader isn't the one that the Mani Katti chooses.

Kaitlyn retorted with, "You only think of the physical aspect of war. There are ways to do things in war that will make it easier to win. This is one of those special cases. Plus, you will be able to help Lyn up until the main part of the plan."

Sain was about to object again when Lyn interrupted. "It's fine Sain. I will be fine too. Besides," she said with a smile, "I've wondered what it would be like to be a goddess."

Sain looked at Kent, and once again they had one of their silent conversation, but Kaitlyn could almost see what they were thinking

Sain: I don't know about this Kent

Kent: Lyndis is fine with it, and while it was surprising, if done properly, it will be effective.

Sain: All right, but if ANYTHING goes the slightest bit wrong, we must stop the plan

Kent: Agreed,

When they stopped looking at each other, Kaitlyn looked straight at Sain in the eyes, and then said to him, "It won't go wrong. Trust me." Sain and Kent's eyes both grew wide again, and Kaitlyn knew that she had pretty much nailed that conversation.

The group got into formation, and then, at a nod from Kaitlyn, attacked the group of ruffians. Sain and Kent circled around the group, bunching them up, and cutting down anyone who tried to escape. Lyn went into the middle, and with her amazing speed cut down the majority of them. When the majority had been dealt with, then Sain and Kent joined the main fray to cut them down, until there was only one left. The whole procedure had taken less than a minute. Just according to plan.

Lyn then grabbed the lone thug and pushed him against the wall. "Tell me about your leader. NOW!" and he flinched and then began to tell her.

"His name is Glass, son of Hariz. He was born in the village south of here, known now as Sar'nai. He-." the thug was about to continue, when Lyn cut him off.

"That was all we needed, thanks." She then punched him across the face, and he went out cold.

They took a couple seconds rest, and then Sain looked at Kaitlyn and then asked, "What should we use to break down the wall?"

Kaitlyn looked around, and then picked up two axes off the ground. "Here," she said holding them up, "Use these. These thugs won't be needing them anymore." Sain and Kent grabbed them and nodded, then ran off to the wall.

Kaitlyn and Lyn stood there for a couple of seconds, until they heard a large crash with cries of exclamation. Kaitlyn then looked at Lyn and said, "show time in five seconds." Kaitlyn heard Lyn count to five under her breath. Then she approached the door as they heard Kent's muffled yell, and then pushed the doors open.

* * *

Sain and Kent stood off to the wall, getting ready to break it. They backed up their horses, and Sain looked at Kent and asked, "You ready Kent?" Kent nodded in confirmation, and then together they both charged at the door. When they were nearly there, they threw the axes at the wall. Both hit at nearly the same time, and the wall collapsed. They then charged through the gap and smoke to see a small group of bandits gawking at them. The priest lay on the bottom of the stairs, and at the top stood a man who had two swords and looked very calm. That one was Glass.

Sain and Kent stopped in unison, a trick learned by years of working together. They then both drew their new blades and then Kent bellowed, "Stop, if you wish not to be struck down! We will not attack unless provoked, for we come heralding a message!" This made any ruffians who were grabbing their weapons pause, and then the group glanced at Glass. Glass smirked and then nodded. "Let's hear what they have to say before we cut them down."

As the group turned back to them, Sain then spoke up. "We," he started," are but messengers from the heavens. Your comrades outside would not listen, so we were forced to cut them down." At that they made their way to the door and Sain stood to the left of it, while Kent stood to the right.

Kent then picked up, "We come to announce the presence of the goddess in who walks among us!" and right then, the doors swung open, and there stood Lyn and Kaitlyn. Some of the thugs' eyes grew wide at this, but others merely smirked.

Kaitlyn then picked up, "Behold! You are in the presence of Lyndis, the goddess of the wind and protector of the Mani Katti!" Lyn then walked up and stood in front of them, looking completely regal and as if she owned the place.

Glass then piped up, "Oh please. You want us to believe that she's a goddess? I have never heard of the goddess Lyndis anyway. She's obviously-"

Lyn then stopped him, "Be silent, Glass, son of Harzi, from the village of Sar'nai. Speak no more." Glass stopped, and looked at Lyn, trying to figure out how she knew so much about him. But all the men stared, thinking that she had actually silenced him just by telling him to do so. She continued, "As proof of my divinity, my messengers wield the divine blades, ice risastór and hvítur úlfur." Kent and Sain held up their blades for all to see, if any of the men's eyes weren't wide before, they were now.

"Glass, you know that the sword of spirits chooses its owner. This is how. By laying your hand on the sword, you have activated the ancient rites. You may duel me, and if you win, you can use the sword as you want. However, if I win, the Mani Katti will go back to where it was to await its true master. Also, the sword will reject you if you refuse to duel with me. Make your decision wisely."

Glass didn't even hesitate for a second. "I will duel you and I will win. Now come 'goddess of the wind' let us see what you can do." He then put his hand on the Mani Katti and tried to draw it from it's sheathe. But the sword would not move.

Lyn raised an eyebrow. "Were you not listening mortal," she questioned, "I told you that you could use the sword if you could beat me. Until then, use your other blade." He sneered and drew the sword while muttering, "no matter." Lyn then eyed him and then said, "To keep this fight fair, I won't even draw my sword from its sheathe," and she pulled her sword and sheathe off of her belt.

Kaitlyn looked to Sain, because this wasn't part of the plan. Sain and Kent were about to object when Lyn raised her hand to silence them. She then got into a dueling stance as Glass walked down the stairs.

As he reached the bottom, Glass yelled out, "This one is mine. When I have one, you may have the rest." He then lunged at Lyn, moving almost as fast as Lyn herself could move. But Lyn was still faster, and swatted his sword aside and then moved to hit his knee with her sword.

Glass saw this coming, and jumped into the air to avoid her hit, and at the same time twisted around in the air to hit Lyn. She ducked out of his blade's path. And then kicked him in the side when he landed. Glass jumped back and glared, and Lyn looked at him with almost no emotions in her eyes. Glass then ran forward and started to slide. He then slid under her, and swung his blade up to catch her across her back. He would have too, if Lyn had still been there. Instead, she had stepped off to the side and with her open arm smacked the flat of his blade to the side.

Glass got up and then looked at her, "I see that tricks won't get me anywhere with you. Luckily for me, I'm better at just sword play by itself." And with that he launched into a full out assault. Lyn blocked and answered back with a few hits of her own. It continued like this, but then the two gradually got faster, until they were nearly blurring they were moving so fast.

But then Glass made to stab her through the gut, but Lyn dodged to the side. As she did so, she reached behind him and grabbed his back, and then pushed him into the end of her sword sheathe. The air rushed out of Glass, and then as he breathed back in she struck him against the side of his head using the flat of her sheathe. Glass collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

Lyn paused for a second, and then spoke to Glass. "I find you unworthy for the blade. It shall return to wait for its master, unless anyone else would wish to try." Her gaze moved over all of the men, and when she did, they shivered and looked down. When no one spoke, she said, "Now depart from this place immediately. Or I will draw my blade, and so will my messengers."

The thugs practically ran out of the altar, leaving the group alone with Glass. Kaitlyn squealed and threw herself at Lyn. Lyn laughed and hugged her back saying, "It worked." But that didn't last long, because then Sain and Kent came over. She looked at them, and Kent started.

"That was extremely reckless, my lady. You handicapped yourself, and put yourself in more danger than was necessary. You should not try anything like that again, on my authority as your bodyguard and escort."

Lyn objected, "Oh please. You could see that some of those people still needed convincing. Who would be confident enough to fight against a swordsman they don't know except a goddess?" Kent struggled to find a counter, and Lyndis continued, "Plus, I took extra care fighting him, even though I knew that you two would chop down everybody in the room if things even LOOKED like they were going wrong."

Kent looked at Sain, and they had another silent conversation. Then Kent sighed and said, "My apologies. I was merely worried for your safety, for I want you to get back to your grandfather. I was rash."

Lyn smiled at him, and then a voice said from behind them, "That was very well done." The group whirled around to see the priest standing there. "Don't worry, I'm fine. You kids did a fine job protecting the sword. As a reward, you may come and touch the blade and pray for safety."

Lyn looked at Kaitlyn, who nodded encouragingly. She then breathed deeply, and then touched the blade. As soon as she did, the entire blade glowed. "What's happening?" she asked franticly. The priest only looked back at her in awe until the blade went back to its original colors.

"It has chosen you to be its master," the priest finally said when he recovered. "You are to be the one to wield the sword of spirits, the Mani Katti." Lyn started to object when he cut her off. "It belongs to you, no matter what we do. And it's my job to give the sword to which it chooses. And it has chosen you. Take it."

She hesitantly grabbed the blade, and then but it on her belt. "I cannot thank you enough, sir."

He smiled back and said, "I only returned it to its rightful owner." And with that, he walked up the stairs, and then started to pray.

They group around in shock for a moment, before they left the altar and went back to town.

* * *

When they got back, they were welcomed with cheering, not only because they had defeated the thugs, but because the Mani Katti had found its owner. There was a big party thrown, and there was lots of dancing, food, and festivities. The party continued all night long.

When Kaitlyn woke up the next morning, she saw Lyn already up, staring at the Mani Katti. Kaitlyn walked up to her and put her hand on Lyn's shoulder. Lyn didn't jump at all, but merely said, "It doesn't seem real. Why would it choose me, of all people?"

Kaitlyn then took her friend on by both shoulders and said, "Because it saw you for how you are. Strong. Kind. All of the things that also makes you the best of friends." And they smiled and hugged. Then they got up, and started to prepare for the road.

* * *

When they set out two hours later, there were many good-byes and cheering and wished of good luck. However, they weren't more than two miles away when they heard something coming through the brush. They turned to see Glass running at them, sword drawn.

The group immediately got ready to attack, and was fully prepared when he stopped in front of them. Lyn then asked him, "What do you want Glass?"

He then looked at them and said, "I know that you're not a goddess. I talked to my friend who you knocked unconscious. He told me that you asked him for the information that you said. And so I've come to…" he tightened his grip on his sword, and the group got ready to defend when he knelt to the ground in front of Lyn and offered her his sword. "Will you let me join your group? I have much to learn, and I think that I can learn it here, among you."

The four of them looked at him for a second, and then they glanced at each other. Lyn then looked at Sain, who shook his head vehemently. She looked to Kent, who looked at Glass, and then shook his head slowly. Last, she looked to Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn didn't know what to decide. Glass was quite literally the enemy the day before, and now he was here to ask to join them? That reeked of a potential trap. However, he seemed so sincere, and one didn't go and offer their blade like that to anyone, even if it was to trick them. She considered for a few more moments, and then slowly nodded yes. Kent and Sain stared at her in disbelief. Lyn turned towards Glass and looked at him for a moment. Then, she grabbed his sword and said, "You may join us Glass."

He got up in disbelief, and looked even more unsure when she gave him back his blade. But then he smiled and said, "Thank you." He then immediately went to the back of the group, and then after the original four looked at each other, the continued their march to Lycia.

* * *

**Author's Note: Well I bet you didn't see that one coming! I apologize to those of you who don't like things to go off the main story line, but I decided to take some creative licenses. Anyway, sorry for not updating last or this Thursday, I had to finish writing a paper, and then time got away from me, and then cleaning and then I forgot to edit it in time… it was a mess. However, I will try to be more consistent in the future. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it, please review at the bottom, and I'll see you next thurday!**

**"Life could be simple, but you never fail to complicate it every single time" - MIKA**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: If I did own fire emblem, my writing would be a lot better.**

* * *

Lyn, Kaitlyn, Sain, Kent, and Glass continued to head to the west towards Lycia. Everyone was talking and having a fairly good time as they traveled. All of them, except for Glass. He walked in the back, not really talking to any of them except to maybe say if he saw something or on the rare occasion he was asked something.

Kaitlyn had been feeling sorry for him, but didn't know how to start a conversation with the guy. She didn't know anything that he liked, or if he didn't like some things… but that IS why conversations are started with people you don't know. So Kaitlyn slowed her pace until she was in the back of the group with Glass.

They walked next to each other in silence for a bit, until Glass glanced over at her. "Can I help you with something?" he asked, almost coldly. She looked back at him, but then looked away from his intense gaze.

"I just wanted to talk to you. You seem so lonely back here, and I was wondering if you needed someone to talk to at all." She asked. Glass still looked at her warily. "You're not going to give me an inch are you?" Kaitlyn questioned, grinning.

Glass also smirked. "Fine," he said, "you win. It is pretty lonely back here. I don't think that the other people in the group trust me. Actually, I'm not completely sure that you trust me." He commented, almost to himself. "But something has been bothering me. What do you use to defend yourself?"

Kaitlyn looked at Glass as if he had just said something strange. "What do you mean? I'm the tactician, I don't get into the fray, and I direct it from the outside."

Glass looked at her the same way. "Are you kidding me? You have no way to defend yourself?" Kaitlyn shook her head, and Glass muttered something under his breath. Then he said to her again, "You should learn how to use at least some weapon, in case you DO get caught up in the fray."

Kaitlyn laughed. "When would this happen? It's not very likely at all." She laughed for another couple of seconds. She stopped as Glass tackled her, and they rolled off the path. Lyn and the others immediately turned around and started racing with weapons drawn towards Glass and Kaitlyn, who were still rolling off the path, with Kaitlyn struggling to get Glass off of her.

They finally stopped rolling, and Glass somehow ended up on top of her, with a knife pressed to her throat. Kaitlyn felt a heat in her cheeks as she started to blush from the contact with Glass. But she then stopped when it fully dawned on her that her life was in danger.

But then Glass got up and dusted himself off. He then held out his hand to help Kaitlyn up. After a moment, Kaitlyn took it and got up and dusted herself off. When she looked up, Lyn, Sain, and Kent were still staring at Glass, as if waiting for him to do something again. But Glass merely laughed and said to Kaitlyn, "that is how you would end up in the fray, and then you would be dead, and that's a huge blow to the group."

Kaitlyn was about to retort that even that wouldn't occur often, but then it hit her, that it was true. If that did happen in a battle, she could die. At least if she knew how to defend herself she could have a chance to fight back. "All right," she admitted, "that would put me in a jam. But seeing how you're the one who is suggesting that I learn to use a weapon, does that mean that you're offering to be my teacher?"

Glass looked at her for a second and then laughed, "Well, I suppose I am. I am the second best swordsman in the land, third if you listen to the rumors. Sure I can teach you to use a weapon, if I myself know how to use it. Can you think of anything that you would like to learn how to use?"

Kaitlyn thought of a weapon that she could learn how to use. Glass was best with swords, but she felt them to be too unwieldy. He probably knew a little with axes, but again those were just wild and powerful, not really any precision. He also probably didn't know jacksquat about lances. So that left her with bows and tomes. She could rule out tomes, because Glass wasn't a magic-user. So that left her with bows, but they didn't have any of those in their group. So she was left with nothing. Unless…

"Could you teach me how to use a knife?" she asked. Glass looked surprised, and then he chuckled.

"You could choose any weapon that I have any knowledge of and you choose knife? I can safely say that I didn't see that one coming. But fine, I'll train you to use knives." And he then loaned her the same knife that he had held up to her throat just a short while ago and started to tell her about the proper holding technique, and how to use it in battle. Kaitlyn's mind absorbed it all, and she quickly started picking up how to use it.

* * *

They were still walking along when Lyn stopped and gasped. The company halted, and Kaitlyn looked at Glass, and they both ran up to the front with the others. Through the forest that surrounded the path, there was a clearing. Inside the clearing, there were charred ruins of a village.

There was little of what was left of the old village, just the breaking-down wall, and the walls of a couple of houses and shops. As they walked through, they saw some grave markers in the streets, a lot of them that had blood smeared or splattered on them.

Lyn was looking around at everything with a glazed look in her eyes, as if it was all too much to handle. Then she put her hand to her head and said, "the whole place… it's…" she kept on pausing between words, as if she was having troubles remembering how to speak.

Sain picked up instead. "This whole place was attacked and is now in shambles. Why doesn't the marquess of this area do anything?" He looked at Lyn, who didn't respond for a minute, but then replied.

"The mountain nearby, Taliver Mountain, is home to merciless bandits. No marquess holds power here. My village… we were on the other side of this mountain. The bandits… they attacked in the night, without warning. My father tried to fight them off and… he died in the attempt. The women started pleading, and the bandits only laughed as they slaughtered them. As they slaughtered us. Then they burned everything down. Out of everyone, there were only about ten survivors left. They are soulless monsters, and I will hunt them all down for what they have done." Tears were flowing freely down her face.

Everyone looked down. Then Sain came and touched her on the back and said, "Lyndis… I'm so sorry." She just nodded and stood there for a couple of minutes. Then she wiped her tears away, and they started to walk off when Glass came over and grabbed her shoulder. She paused and looked at him.

Glass took a deep breath, and then said, "While that may be something that you want to do alone, you shouldn't. If they are as bad as you say, then you should fight in a group. And while I don't know you all very well… I'm sure I speak for everyone when you just need to ask, and we will come."

Everyone looked at her and nodded. Lyn paused for a second, then smiled and nodded. Then they continued to walk through the mountains.

* * *

The bandit named Migal grabbed the girl who had run over him with her Pegasus by the wrist. "Hey you little snot, are you going to apologize? I could have been seriously hurt! Well spit it out then!"

The girl looked absolutely terrified. "I... uh… that is… well…" She couldn't get a sentence to form. Meanwhile, Migal kept on grabbing and shaking her. Then another bandit chimed in.

"She's quite the catch ain't she? I bet that we could get quite a pretty penny for her. That is, after we're through with her," he said with a rough laugh. The girls cheeks flamed, and she tried to object, but still couldn't form a sentence.

Migal huffed, and then thought for a second. "Well, she did rough me up a bit, so fair is fair. She'll get no more than she deserves, and we'll get more than she's worth!" The girl kept on trying to form her sentence, trying more and more frantically, but the words refused to come out.

The second bandit chimed in again, "Whats we gonna do with her flyin' mule of hers?" the girl froze. The bandits began to walk towards the Pegasus.

The girl looked like she to say something. Then as the bandits approached the Pegasus, She screamed out, "Don't you dare touch her!" The bandits whirled around. They looked at each other in shock, and then Migal marched back and slapped her across the face.

"You should watch your mouth. Otherwise I may forget to be nice little girl." He then started walking towards the Pegasus again. But the girl ran towards Migal, and grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Please, you can… do what you want with me. But leave her be." She looked at him desperately. But Migal just laughed.

"You idiot! Pegasi can only be found in Ilia. They are very rare, and will get a lot more gold than you will. Plus, it doesn't matter if you come willingly or not, because we can take you anyway!" and with that he grabbed her and started to drag her away.

* * *

The band was traveling, when Kent threw up his hand to stop the group. "Be on your guard, there seems to be some kind of commotion up there." He then drew his sword and got on his horse. Everyone else got ready too, and they proceeded cautiously to the open field ahead.

There, they found two bandits dragging a pretty young girl along, and also a Pegasus, despite the majestic beast's protests. When the two groups met, the bandits drew their weapons. "We don't have any trouble with you right now, but let us by otherwise things will get… ugly for y'all" one of them said.

Glass was the one who spoke up first, "We can't very well do that, seeing as how you appear to have a young lady as your captive, and we won't stand for it. Right Lyn," he added, almost as if he wanted to make sure that what he was saying was right. Kaitlyn giggled at him, because he was trying so hard to fit, without realizing that he would fit in fine, given time.

But at the mention of Lyn, the girl stirred. She picked her head up and looked around groggily. "Lyn…?" she questioned, looking to find her. Lyn looked confused for a second, then her eyes flew wide and her hand flew to her mouth.

"Oh my gods, Florina!" she exclaimed, then her eyes grew angry and she drew her regular sword forth. "Unhand her fiends, or I shall cut you open." The bandits looked at each other, and then laughed.

"You can try. But you think that measly threat is going to make us hand her over? Especially a catch like her? We can make quite a bit of money off of a young, innocent girl like her. Well, she may not be quite so innocent when they get her," he smirked, and then started to move to stick his tongue in her ear.

But then the bandit had his hands on his face, howling, and there was a tongue on the ground. Sain stood there, his sword held in a position that indicated that he had just completed a fell arc with his sword. His eyes were dark when he looked up, "That is no way to treat a young lady such as this one here." And he moved his arm to shield the girl, whose face turned red again and she started to back away, and then ran to Lyn.

The bandit took his hands off his face, and snarled, blood draining down his face. " 'on 'ell me wha' 'oo 'oo," he said, struggling to speak without a tongue, "You 'uh of a-" he was then cut off by a quick stab to the heart from Glass.

As the bandit fell to the ground, Glass just looked sadly at him and said, "And that is no way to speak to in front of a woman. Now," he started, turning towards the other one, who was just standing there in disbelief. "How should we deal with him?" he asked Lyn.

But before she could answer, the second bandit cut in, "You will be sorry you messed with me! For I am Migal of the Taliver mountain bandits!" Lyn froze and stiffened, then let go of the girl, who Kaitlyn guessed that her name was Florina based off of Lyn's remark.

"You are of the Taliver mountain bandits?" she asked coldly. She then slowly put her sword away and put her hand on the Mani Katti.

Migal must have mistaken it as a sign of fear, because he sneered at them. "Yea, I am. And now you're about to meet them." He then grabbed a horn from his belt and blew into it. A deep, rich sound echoed across the valley. The group tensed up, but found that there was no response. Migal's smirk disappeared, and then after waiting for a second, he turned and started to run.

"After him!" Lyn yelled, and they started to follow him. But then they realized that Florina was still standing there. So Lyn came up to her, and said, "Come on Florina. I know that you are… uncomfortable around men. But I… no WE have to do this. So please, will you help us?" Florina looked at her, then Kent and shivered, which caused Kent to look back at Sain in a questioning matter. Sain just laughed.

After a pause, Florina nodded and got on her Pegasus. "I'll…. Try to …. Find him from…. The air," she stuttered. Then she took off into the air. The group watched her for a second, just because of how majestic the sight was. But then they remembered what they were doing, and rushed after the bandit.

* * *

After they followed his trail through the forest for a bit of time, the stumbled across a village in the middle of the woods. They slowed down, and looked at the village. There was no movement at all in the streets. It looked completely abandoned. They were about to turn and leave when there was a small flicker of movement by what looked to be the meeting hall in the town. They looked at each other, than approached the hall.

When they got there, Lyn knocked on the door. There was no response, so she knocked again. After a couple of seconds, she shrugged, and they were about to turn and go away when a voice called out from the inside, "Yeah, go away! We have no more for you!" this was immediately followed up by an uproar or shushing.

Lyn looked at Kaitlyn, who just shrugged her shoulders. Lyn then turned around and said, "We are not here to take anything from you. We just wanted to make sure that everything is alright here." This sparked some muffled talking, and then after about a minute a man stepped out of the hall. He was tall, had brown hair and eyes, and a kind face that you could tell often had a smile on it.

After a pause, he smiled slightly and said, "Hi, my name is Wil. I have been asked to see what you want, and if you are actually telling the truth. Otherwise," he pulled a bow off of his back and gestured with it, "We will have to be drastic."

Kaitlyn was the one who spoke up, "Please, all that we want is to protect this village. We are on our way to fight the bandits of these mountains now."

Wil's eyes grew wide. "You're going to fight the bandits. THE bandits of Taliver Mountains?" Lyn nodded. "Why would you do that?" Wil asked, not quite believing.

Lyn responded quietly, "Because my tribe was destroyed by these monsters. So not only am I going to get vengeance for my people, but I want to protect these people too. So please, just stay inside until we come to get you. Stay out of harm's way." Lyn then nodded to Kaitlyn, and they ran out of the village.

Wil stood there flabbergasted for a moment, then he looked back at the town hall. He then ran after the group yelling for them to wait up. After full out sprinting for about a minute, he finally caught up to them. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he spoke up, "I want… to fight… with you." He wheezed along. After taking another moment to fully catch his breath, he then started again, "I am a traveler, and those villagers have been kind to me even though they have nothing for themselves. So I want to fight for them too."

Lyn looked at Kaitlyn, and after a slight pause, Kaitlyn nodded. She felt that he truly did want to help, plus having a ranged unit was never a bad thing to have. Lyn turned towards Wil. "Very well, you may come along," she stated, "but we must hurry, the trail has gone col-" at this moment, Florina came crashing through the trees.

"I found out where he wen- AHHHHHHHHHHHH," she screamed as she saw Wil standing there, and she instantly threw herself in front of her Pegasus. "Stay back fiend! I… I won't let you…. Hurt her…" she stuttered along, her rage coupling with her timidness for an almost amusing performance of words.

Wil looked at Florina, then laughed. "Hey, Lyn was it? I hope this is a friend of ours!" He chuckled again, and Florina blushed. Wil just said, "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you, or you Pegasus. I'm just here to help kill some bandits." At this, Florina calmed down a bit, but was still on guard.

Florina then came closer to Lyn and said to her quietly, "I found out where that bandit ran too. He stopped in a clearing just a bit from here. You should be able to get there in about 5 minutes if you walk briskly. And you might want to, there's no telling how long he'll stay there."

Lyn smiled, and said, "Then we'll just have to go faster. Let's go!" and she sprinted towards where Florina had pointed. The others quickly followed after, with Florina taking to the air again.

* * *

The group found Migal sitting cross-legged on a rock at the edge of a clearing, his back pressed up against a giant tree. "Welcome," he said, while sharpening his axe with a rock, "You guys sure took your time, didn't you? No matter, you just merely prolonged your deaths."

At this, Wil laughed. "You and who else, because as I count it, we have six fighters and, from what I've heard, one hell of a tactician! Even if you are a Taliver bandit, you are just one man."

Migal just smiled. Then he got up and said, "Is that so?" He then raised his hand into the air. Out of the shadows of the forest came a squad of bandits, seeming to appear from nowhere. "How do you think that we are so famous?" Migal asked, "We don't just mindlessly charge into a situation! We wait until we are at an advantage, then strike. But of course, that green haired girl over there knows that, don't you?"

Lyn stiffened up when he pointed at her. "Don't look so surprised. Your clothes give you away as part of the Lorca tribe. Or what was the Lorca tribe, if I remember correctly." Lyn glared at him with all the hate in her heart. "Yes that was a sweet raid. Plus, if I remember correctly, the chief came out to greet us. He just stood there pleading with us. So I ended his pathetic life by chopping off his head."

The bandit must have been trying to provoke Lyn into attacking, anyone could see. Everyone except Lyn, that is, because the bandit got what he wanted. She just glared at him, then said quietly, "You shall never be able to repay the crimes you have committed. You have slain innocents, burned villages, and more," she slowly got louder, until she her voice was almost at a roar, "I swear, that you shall repent for your sins!" And she drew forth the Mani Katti. But the sword was bathed in a red haze, which startled all around. But Lyn didn't care. She charged head on at them, despite Kaitlyn yelling for her to stop. The group looked at each other, then also charged, except for Wil, who calmly retreated a few steps and started to load an arrow.

Migal laughed, and motioned his bandits forward. They also laughed, and charged forward. They kept on laughing, all the way up to the point where Lyn slew the first three in her path in a matter of seconds. Then another dropped dead, with an arrow in his skull.

Kaitlyn put her hands to her head, trying to find a tactical way to keep all of her friends safe. But everything was moving so fast, she could only call out small things she noticed about the enemy.

Lyn fought like a demon let out of hell. Anyone who met her path was soon after dead, and whenever they tried to attack her, the red haze around the Mani Katti seemed to catch their weapons, so they could do nothing as Lyn stabbed them through a vital area. Glass stood behind her, making sure that no enemies attacked her from the back. Kent and Sain were circling around the fray, chopping the bandits on the outside. Florina would also circle around in the air, then dive down and stab one of the bandits, sometimes killing, but mostly just injuring. Wil would fire shots into the crowd, and whenever he did, an enemy would drop dead.

Kaitlyn was taking all of this in when she saw one bandit still on the edge of the clearing. She registered him taking the bow off his back and starting to draw an arrow, his eyes skyward. Towards Florina. "Oh gods," Kaitlyn exclaimed, "Wil, archer over there! He's going to take out Florina!" Wil merely nodded and quickly drew one of his last arrows. He then aimed, and fired at the archer.

Wil's arrow flew towards the archer, and hit him squarely on the shoulder, right through a major artery. But the impact caused the archer to loose the arrow, which flew straight towards Florina. It would have hit, had Florina not seen the arrow. But the movements made her go instantly into a dive, and the arrow flew safely over her.

Kaitlyn sighed with relief, and then looked back at the battle. But there wasn't much of a battle left. There were just a few bandits left. One cut Sain to his hamstring, and Sain cried out in pain. Kent then quickly finished him off, and gave Sain a vulnerary to drink. Sain did, and the wound started to close, but it didn't completely.

The last few bandits were trying to throw themselves at Lyn and Glass, but to no avail. It didn't matter that it was about six on two, the two of them were not letting anything get by them. Glass was blocking attack from all sides, no matter where they were coming from. Lyn had slowed down, but was still moving at almost inhuman speeds. Then all of a sudden, she swung her sword back, and moved faster than the eye could track, just like in the first battle she and Kaitlyn had fought together. She was suddenly standing a couple of feet from where she and Glass had stood fighting. At the same time, four of the bandits grabbed the necks or hearts, and the dropped dead before the blood started to flow from their wounds. Everyone in the field except for Kaitlyn was shocked. Luckily, Glass recovered fast, and took advantage of the two remaining bandits just standing there to quickly finish them off.

Migal hadn't left his rock the entire fight. He sat there, with his face red, and glared at Lyn, who glared back just as fiercely. Then he spat at her "Fine, it's time for you to die, just like your parents!" and he jumped off his rock to attack Lyn.

But she wasn't still where she was standing. She was in the air, with the Mani Katti through Migal's heart, the red haze surrounding her sword now an inferno of white flames. They landed roughly, and Lyn drew back her blade as Migal crashed to the ground. Migal stared at her with disbelief, even as the light faded from his eyes. He died, with that expression still on his face.

Lyn stood over him silently, and slowly the flames running along the Mani Katti flickered out and slowly faded back into the sword. She then sheathed her blade, and then squatted down in front of Migal. She then closed his eyes, and said to him quietly, "Rest in peace." She then got up, and looked at the rest of the group, who stood there, minor scrapes all over their body, but otherwise fine. She then smiled and nodded, and they all smiled back. They then started to make their way back to the village.

* * *

At news of the bandit's death, the village celebrated. The men went to the bandit's hideout, where most of the village's crop and money was. When they returned, the village started to throw a party in honor of Lyn's group. There was a lot to eat and drink, and everyone seemed to have a good time. Then at the height of the party, one of the village elders called out to the crowd, "When storming the bandit's hideout, we found this glass sword. It is very rare, and we would like to present it to the travelers who have saved us!" There was much cheering at this. Lyn graciously accepted the sword. Then looking at it, she handed it to Glass.

"Glass, you are new to the group, but you still fought with us ferociously. I present you this sword as a token of my personal gratitude." Glass smiled at her and grabbed the sword. When he had strapped it across his back, Lyn added, "Besides, it would seem that that sword belongs to you anyway, eh Glass?" At this everyone laughed, but Kaitlyn suspected that that was mainly because most of them were drunk.

* * *

The party continued to rage on even after there was no more food. There was a great fire in the center of the village, and people sat, talked, sang and danced. It was a sight to behold. Then, Kaitlyn noticed Lyn going off into the woods, and decided to follow her.

When Kaitlyn finally found Lyn, it was in a small clearing, and Lyn just sat there looking at the stars, her eyes empty as she stared at them. So Kaitlyn approached and asked, "What's the matter Lyn?" and laid down a little bit away from her.

If Lyn was surprised at all, she didn't show it. "It's nothing Kaitlyn. I'm fine." But Kaitlyn just waited there, until finally Lyn said, "Ok, fine. I'm just… I'm a bit lost right now. From the time my tribe was destroyed, my goal in life was to seek vengeance on the bandits who took my people away from me. Now that that's gone, I just feel this kind of hole inside of me. I don't know what to do with my life."

Kaitlyn took that in, and then responded, "Lyn, this has been a major part of your life for a long time now. Of course you feel weird now that it's done. But you just need to find something else to fill it up. You need to get a new goal in life. Like your grandfather, who's waiting for you. You have a family now Lyn! You should go forward, and your goal now should be to meet your grandfather."

Lyn didn't say anything for a long time, then said, "You're right Kaitlyn. Thank you. I just need to keep on moving forward. Although the path ahead will be difficult, I must follow through on it." She then just stared up at the stars for a while and then said, "They're beautiful."

Kaitlyn just nodded and said, "Yea, that they are." And they just lay there for while, just looking at the stars.

* * *

**I'm sorry that it's taken so long. Please, don't stone me or anything like that. I just kinda got out of it when I was finishing up school, then Fire emblem awakening called me. Finally got the new chapter in though, so that's something! Anyway, to make it up to you guys, I decided that you guys can decide what happens to Glass when he leaves. Not when, just how. Anyway, I'm just going to try and write the next chapter as soon as possible, otherwise I won't. Have fuuuuun, now if you'll excuse me, I have to destroy Jotunheim.**

**King35763, Abscond!**

**Accidents don't just happen accidentally! - Dean Winchester, Supernatural**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Actually, I don't want to own fire emblem. I would know what happens before the game is even made!**

* * *

Lyn, Kaitlyn, and the group of travelers continue west, towards Lycia. They were worn out from days of running. They were fleeing from bandits seeking revenge because they decimated the Taliver bandits. No matter how fast they fled, the group always seemed to gain ground on them, and they were slowing down.

On their fourth night of being chased, Wil nearly collapsed from exhaustion. "We haven't slept for more than three hours in three days," he almost moaned out, talking to no one in particular.

Kaitlyn came over and grabbed him by the arm. "Come on Wil, we have to keep moving. If those bandits catch up to us unprepared…" Kaitlyn didn't finish the thought. She didn't need to, because everyone else looked up and nodded, moving now purely out of determination, and loyalty.

But Kaitlyn's comment almost provoked Wil. "That's exactly my point!" he yelled at her. "Do you think we stand a chance in hell against these bandits in the condition we are in?" He got up and motioned at the rest of the group. The tried to get up and not look exhausted, but there was no hiding it.

Glass spoke up, "Unfortunately, he's right. I couldn't fight for more than a couple of minutes in my current state. Plus, Wil would be more of a danger than a help in his current state." He glanced over at Wil, "Sorry man, but it's true," obviously expecting some sort of retort.

But Wil just stared blankly ahead, obviously not hearing or processing what had just been said. And Kaitlyn and Lyn recognized that, and they glanced at each other. "Alright," Lyn said, "You guys are right. We all are tired. We'll find somewhere to spend the night as soon as possible. But until then, let's keep moving." The group nodded, and started to gather up the willpower to keep moving. Kaitlyn even noticed Lyn doing it, and it reminded her that Lyn was as tired as anyone.

* * *

A couple of hours later, they found a large fortress that appeared to have been abandoned for a very long time, judging by the amount of plants hanging over the walls. When they saw it, Wil cried out with joy, "That should suffice as our bed tonight!" Everyone looked relieved, and they started to move towards it.

Sain, however, would have none of it. "That old fortress? Is that really the best we can do?" he asked. However, he wasn't really into the heart of it, he obviously just wanted a soft bed to sleep in.

Wil just kept on moving. "Come on, this area is surrounded by bandits, so no one has time to care about anyone but themselves. Plus we are a rather large group of people to accommodate. Plus," he continued, this time turning around, but still walking backwards towards the fortress, "We have a big swarm of bandits on our tails now. Do we really want to give some innocent people more trouble?"

Sain shook his head no. Lyn came over to him and smiled. "This will be fine Sain. Who wants to be stuck inside anyway? I prefer to sleep outside, with the wind blowing over me, you know?" She smiled and looked up at the sky, which was slowly turning darker as the sun was setting.

Florina was still in the back of the group with her Pegasus. She hadn't really warmed up the rest of the group yet. Or, more specifically, the men of the group. So it was rare to hear her speak. But she did pipe up from the back, "As long as Lyn's by my side, I'll be fine." Then she turned bright red and buried her face in her Pegasus' mane.

Sain smiled at that, then moved closer to Lyn and then said, "Well of course you'll need protection. So your man-at-arms will be right by your sides to make sure that nothing… naughty happens to either of you," he said with a creepy kind of wink. But you could tell that he was using a lot of energy to try and keep up appearances.

Kaitlyn thought that Lyn would have slapped him for that remark, or scolded him at least. But instead, she just smiled at him and then said, "My hero." This woke up Kaitlyn with a jolt, but then decided that Lyn was tired and probably wasn't thinking straight.

When they got to the fortress, they went into the main courtyard. They quickly set up camp, but just the minimum they needed, in case they needed to pack up quick. After everyone had eaten dinner, Kent turned towards Sain and said, "We're taking the watch tonight. We'll rotate every two hours." This sparked some rebellion from Sain, but Kent quickly got him to agree.

Then a voice came from near the entrance, "Pardon, milady." Everyone jumped up in surprise, with weapons drawn and facing the entrance. There stood a young woman, leaning her weight against the wall. She spoke up again, "Please, excuse my intrusion. My name is Natalie, and I live in a village not too far from here." She tried to motion to her right, but that shifted her weight, and with a cry she started to fall.

Luckily, Glass ran forward and was able to catch her. "Are you all right?" he asked as he helped her up, and then let her lean against him. She nodded. "Are you sure? Hey, your leg…" he started as he looked at her. Her right leg was little more than skin and bones, with almost no muscles at all.

Natalie waved it off, "Don't worry its fine. It's from a sickness I got as a child. It doesn't trouble me much usually, but I can't get very far on it. But anyway, have you seen my husband? I heard that he was in this area, and I'm worried about him. He said that he was going to get money to get my leg treated, but I think that he might be in danger. Oh," she started checking her pockets until she found a folded up sheet of paper. "Here's a sketch of him. It's a rough sketch at best, but… anyway, his name is Dorcas. Do you know anything about him?"

The sketch depicted a man with long red hair that was combed back, and a small beard running along his chin. In the depiction, he wasn't smiling, and that made his eyes look bored. He also was very buff, and looked to be fairly tall.

After each person in the group shook their head, Natalie sighed. "I didn't think it would be that easy. Well, if you see him, can you tell him that his wife is looking for him?" Lyn nodded and told her that she would. Then Natalie sighed and said, "Well I had better get going." She then tried to walk, but stumbled and fell again.

Kaitlyn ran over to help her up. After Natalie assured them that she was fine, she tried to walk away again, but started to stumble again. So Kaitlyn grabbed her, and then looked at Lyn. They had one of their silent conversations, which went something like this,

_She's in no condition to travel._

_Yes, but we are being chased by bandits. We have no idea when they are going to get here, and we don't want to have to worry about her._

_Yes, but what happens if the bandits find her alone as she's walking back. That would be no worse than what would happen if they got to her here._

Lyn sighed. _Ok, fine. I guess you're right._

Kaitlyn smiled, and then said to Natalie, "You're in no condition to travel. Why don't you stay with us tonight?" Natalie tried to turn them down, but then eventually accepted their offer, but would take no more than a blanket for comfort.

* * *

About half an hour later, a scout came running back from the fortress. He ran back to his camp, and ran straight to the leader. "They are here. The ones who killed Migal. They've decided to hole up in this old abandoned fortress. Carjiga, I would recommend that we wait until dark, and then…" he got cut off by Carjiga.

"Ratface, you are an idiot! There are only a couple of them, and some of them are women! Do you know how much of a laughingstock I'd be if we had to wait until night to attack them? Besides," he paused to grin, "We might injure some of the ladies. I will not be so… wasteful."

Ratface immediately started to nod. "Of course Carjiga! You're so smart!"

Carjiga then smiled even more. "We'll avenge Migal, and get some pretty souvenirs to go with it. Who knows, maybe I'll be a leader after all. Well… to people other than those women." He chuckled, "Let's go! Circle around the fortress you dolts! Finish them off before it gets too dark to see! And leave the women unharmed… or mostly unharmed!"

There was a roar from the small assembly of bandits. Except for one, the new tall red-haired one. This annoyed Carjiga, so he stopped the man before they headed out, "Hey you, your name is… Dorcas, right?"

Dorcas didn't say anything, just stared back at Carjiga, looking bored. After waiting a bit, Carjiga continued, "You haven't done much since you've joined us. Today, I want to see what you can do, if those weapons of yours aren't just for show." Dorcas still didn't say anything, and so Carjiga went on, "I want you to attack from that entrance to the east. There's supposed to be a woman inside. Capture her, and I'll increase your share of the take. You wanted gold, right? If that's what you want, get the job done and you'll get your gold."

Carjiga then walked away toward the fortress. Dorcas stood there, staring down sadly at the fortress. "A bunch of women, huh? It would break Natalie's heart to see me sink so low." He then drew his axe and stared at it. But then his grip tightened on it, and he resolved, "No, this is for Natalie. So that she can be happy. I must suffer my demons for the sake of an angel. For the sake of my angel." With that, he started toward the fortress.

* * *

Everyone was resting, not going to sleep quite yet, but still resting. That is until Kent came running from his patrol. "Lady Lyndis," he panted, "Outside of the fortress… bandits… everywhere!"

Lyn helped him stand up straight. "Kent, breath. Now, you said that there were bandits outside." Kent nodded, his breath still not fully returned yet. "Damn," she swore, "Of all of the places to catch up with us."

Sain came over. "Well, they should be awarded for their persistence. What do you think, should we go out and face them?" He then drew his lance.

But Lyn shook her head. "No… Natalie can't move very well on her leg, and leaving her alone would put her in danger." She then got up and drew her sword, "Let them come to us. We'll have to fight here, within the fortress walls. Kaitlyn, take over. All that we have to do is hold out until they tire and leave. A quest such as theirs shouldn't give them enough drive to fight for too long. Rest easy Natalie, no one shall harm you."

Kaitlyn closed her eyes and tried to picture the fortress. She saw the basic layout of the temple. "Ok," she started, "This fortress has two entrances. That is where we must hold the enemy. If they make it to the courtyard, then it'll be too hard to contain them." She then looked at the two entrances, and when she looked to the one in the east, and saw a man charging at them. He was tall, buff and had red hair and a beard. Could it be…? "Lyn, go to the east door. I have a feeling that you'll need to explain a couple of things to the man there." Lyn gave her a weird look, but didn't question it and started to run over there. "Glass, you go with her to make sure that she faces no immediate danger, and Sain you follow behind both of them to make sure that they don't get in danger."

Glass nodded, and then said, "As you wish, Kaitlyn." This threw off Kaitlyn. She was used to people just nodded or saying something like ok. She never had someone say anything like that to her. But they were in a battle and she needed to concentrate, so she refocused on the problem at hand while Glass nodded at Sain, and they both followed Lyn to the east entrance.

"Ok the rest of you, go defend the main entrance. Except you Wil. You should stay back here and pick off anyone that makes it through." Wil nodded his consent, but he look slightly drowsy still. That was the main reason that Kaitlyn held him back, because he was in no shape to be fighting, but if she told him that outright, he would probably object.

Kaitlyn bit her thumbnail and waited. She had never been under siege before, and could only hope that her strategy would hold. She decided to watch the main entrance more to help that squad out because they would be taking more enemies. So she stood there, and waited for the fighting to break out. It didn't take very long, for just a few seconds later; she heard the repeating sound of clashing metal and then after a slight pause, sound of someone dying. But it wasn't from the main entrance like Kaitlyn had expected. The clash had come from the east entrance. Kaitlyn eyes flew over there in terror. 'Lyn!' was her only thought.

* * *

Lyn was running towards the east entrance. She intended to find out if that man really was Dorcas. When she reached the door, she looked out but didn't see the red-haired man there anymore. When she was about to check to see if he circled around to the main entrance, she saw a glint out of the corner of her eye. She ducked as an axe swung by her head. In the doorway stood the man, although he nearly filled the entire way by himself. He swung again, but this time Lyn blocked it with her blade. He just pushed down, hoping to overwhelm her. She tried to hold her ground, but knew that she couldn't for long. So she asked him, "Is your name Dorcas?"

His stony gaze wavered for a second, but then he returned to his original state. "How do you know my name?" he asked her. Lyn didn't say anything to respond, just jumped backwards before she got overwhelmed.

"Natalie told me," Lyn explained to him. At the mention of the name, Dorcas stopped swinging.

"Natalie… My Natalie?" he asked.

"Yes," Lyn responded, "She's worried sick about you! And with good reason too, it seems. What are you doing consorting with these rouges?"

"I need gold for Natalie… joining these bandits were the only way to get it in these parts. I will do anything for Natalie, even this." With that, he swung his axe down at her again. Lyn dodged out of the way, and the axe stuck the wall. She quickly countered, but he blocked the blow. He was swinging downwards towards her head, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to counter the blow. She closed her eyes and waited for the blow to land.

But it never did. Instead, there was the sound of metal clashing. Lyn opened her eyes and saw Dorcas and Glass with their weapons locked. "You'll do anything for her?" Glass growled, "Then why in the seven hells are you trying to attack her?"

Dorcas paused, "Wait, Natalie is here?"

Glass laughed, "Yes, do you think that we would leave her to get back to the village by herself? Well we didn't. We didn't leave her like you did!" Dorcas' eyes flashed, and then with a surge of strength, he knocked Glass flat on his back. Glass hit his head, and looked dazed. Lyn tried to distract Dorcas, but he just shoved her away. He stood over Glass, glaring. He raised his axe over his head and swung it-

Behind him, where he immediately cut a bandit in half. He stood over the two parts of the corpse, and said to it, "Goodbye Ratface. Never liked you much anyway." He then turned and helped up Lyn and Glass. "You were right, I shouldn't have left her. And if she's here as you say, then I must do everything in my power to protect her."

He ran out of the east entrance toward the main entrance, axe raised above his head. But then he stopped, and turned towards their camp, and there he saw Natalie, and she saw him. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth, and he stopped dead in his tracks and stared. He then ran toward towards her, dropped his axe, and hugged her, and she hugged him. Kaitlyn motioned for Wil to put away his arrow, and she herself slowly sheathed Glass' knife.

The two of them embraced for a while, then Natalie whispered in his ear, "Please don't ever do something like that again." Dorcas only just nodded. Then he got up and looked at her. Then he turned around, pulled out a hand axe, and then threw it at an approaching bandit. It stuck right through his chest, and Dorcas ran and grabbed it out of his body. Then he threw his axe at another, then chopped down yet another bandit.

* * *

After five more minutes, and most of the forces wiped out, Carjigal swore. "Retreat! We can't take them right now, fall back!" he then turned to run away. But not before he could, Dorcas turned and struck him through the back with his hand axe. But Cajigal kept on running. Wil had to come out and shoot him down from a distance. Kaitlyn then cried out, "The enemy is fleeing! Victory is ours!" The group then let out a loud cry as the bandits fell back into the woods.

* * *

Everyone was sleeping, except for Kaitlyn. She couldn't fall asleep. She kept on thinking about what would have happened if Dorcas had turned out to be an enemy. She remembered pure terror as she saw the burling man charging towards them, and she thought that she would have to fight him off with her half lesson with Glass and her small knife. As she thought that moment over and over in her head, she resolved to ask Glass for some more lessons.

Then she heard a shuffling noise, and she saw Dorcas move towards her. "Sorry," he said to Kaitlyn, "But I need to talk to you. I'm going to take Natalie back to the village tonight. But I'll be back by tomorrow."

This puzzled Kaitlyn. "Why are you coming back tomorrow?" she asked him.

He looked at her strangely. "Because I'm going to join you of course." Kaitlyn started to protest when Dorcas held up his hands to quiet her. "I need to get gold, and both Natalie and I agree that if I fight to get gold, then I should fight with your group. If you'll have me, that is."

"Of course we'll have you," came a reply just a couple of feet away. Lyn was sitting up, and had obviously heard the entire conversation. "We'll always be glad to accept people into our group. Especially with your power and fighting skills."

Dorcas nodded and thanked her. Then he made his way over to Natalie, picked her up, and carried her out of camp. Lyn hugged her legs. "He loves her very much. Do you think that I'll ever have someone as dedicated as him for me?" she questioned, not really at Kaitlyn, just to the open air.

Kaitlyn leaned back and stared at the stars. "I think that you will. And you never know, they may be closer than you think." Lyn nodded her appreciation, then lay back down to go to sleep. Kaitlyn stared at the stars until slowly they faded and she drifted out of consciousness.

* * *

~_You are doing well little one~_

It was the voice from before. The one that talked to her when she woke up in the field. _Who are you? _Kaitlyn asked it.

_~I am… your helper.~_

_ That's not very helpful, helper_

_ ~Ah, humor. You don't need to know exactly who I am right now. All that you need to know is that you are following your path~_

_ My path? Are you telling me that if I do something wrong, I diverge from this path set for me?_

_ ~It's harder than that to get off your path. People assume that the path is only two choices at a time. But as a tactician, you know that that isn't true. Each second, you have thousands of choices. Your path actually encompasses a vast majority of choices.~_

_ Can I ever get a straight answer out of you?_

The voice made a sound like chuckling _~ You can try, but it will be hard~_

_ Really helpful._

_ ~Fine, I'll be kind. I'll give you an answer and something to beware.~_

_ Great, give me the answer first please_

_ ~I don't have a name, but right now, please call me… Samson. For now, anyway~_

_ Ok Samson. Now what is this warning that you have_

_ ~You will soon be struck by tragedy from someone close to you. But this isn't the end, as another will come~_

_ Wait, a tragedy from whom? And another will come? What do you mean?_

_ ~I've said more than I should have. I'll talk to you again soon."_

_ A tragedy… Do you mean betrayal?_

But it was too late, the voice was already gone, and left Kaitlyn to float in an unsteady dream.

* * *

**Author's Note:**** Sorry that this is late. I had it done on Thursday, but then it had to be beta-read, and then my power went out, taking my internet with it. I then proceeded to not sleep the rest of the night due to having to bucket out my sump-pump to make sure it didn't flood my basement. Anyway, sorry. Hope you like the new chapter, please review, even if it's just to say that you hate it (but please elaborate). Also, nobody has voted in my poll. If I don't get anything then I'm just going to have him disappear and I won't elaborate as to how he's gone at all. He's just going to be gone. Also, as an FYI, the next chapter is not going to be main storyline at all. It's going to be a side-story, almost like a paraloge in FE13. Just as an FYI**

**King35763, going to sleep**

**One may suffer demons for the sake of an angel - Madame du Pompadore, Doctor Who, girl in the fireplace (not going to look up season or episode or if I spelled her name right because I'm tired)**


	6. Chapter 5P

**Disclaimer: Despite what the people who prowl for copy write issues, I don't own fire emblem and never claimed to.**

**A/N: Ok, I don't make these up here often, so listen up. This next chapter doesn't actually have anything to do with the main storyline of the game. It's a side chapter that I am writing to develop some characters and their relationships (oooooh romance… maybe, we'll see how that goes). Just wanted to make sure you guys knew, so that you don't get mad and burn me at the stake (Please don't it's painful and I don't like doing it). Also, on a quick side note, the 5p is a double play on the side quests in FE7 (i.e. Chap 7x) and the xenologs and paralogs in FE13. So the Xs go together and then a p... of forget it. ON TO THE STORY!**

The group of travelers carried on forward towards Lycia. Lyn and Sain were talking to Dorcas, with Florina awkwardly trailing behind Lyn and trying not to make eye contact with any of the guys. Wil and Kent were chatting about weapons and how some didn't quite feel right to the user and so on. Kaitlyn was trailing behind the group, thinking about how she needed to learn how to fight. While she had learned that Dorcas was a kind person, she still was haunted by the fact that if he had been an enemy, she would have let an innocent die.

While she was thinking about what she could have done differently, Glass trailed back and started to walk beside her. "Well," he said, interrupting her thoughts, "You seem pretty deep in troubled thoughts. Might I be of assistance?"

Kaitlyn looked at him then forced a smile. "It's nothing," she lied, "Just… thinking about how I could have done certain things better."

Glass didn't say anything, but continued to walk beside her. Then he suddenly said, "Are you afraid of letting one of us die?" This startled Kaitlyn, because it was close to the mark, but it wasn't quite what she was afraid of. But Glass continued, "Don't worry about it. You always do your job right, and nothing has happened. You have nothing to worry about."

Kaitlyn was shocked at his insight. She decided to trust him, "It's not that, it's just… I can't do anything to protect you guys, or anyone, if it came down to a fight. You gave me some basic lessons but… I'm afraid that if it came down to it, that I won't be able to protect something precious in their time of need." That was always Kaitlyn's biggest fear, not being able to help her friends when they needed her.

Glass didn't say anything again but then he said, "Well, I have a solution." He then walked up to Lyn and asked if he could have a word with her. She nodded, and the two started talking in underhand whispers. Then Lyn glanced at Kaitlyn, and then nodded. Glass smiled and thanked her, then walked back to Kaitlyn. "We're stopping for today."

Kaitlyn was confused. "Why are we stopping?" she questioned.

Glass turned towards her and smiled. "Why, so that we can properly train you to use that knife of course!" and with that, he walked off towards an open field on the side of the path. Kaitlyn hesitated, and then followed after Lyn motioned her to go over.

"Don't worry; we'll set up camp for the day. Just go with Glass," She said to Kaitlyn.

* * *

So Kaitlyn followed Glass, and drew the knife that he had given her. When she arrived at the field Glass nodded. "Ok," he started, "Today is going to teach you how to use that knife the way it's supposed to be used. Get in a fighting position, if you would."

Kaitlyn nodded and held up the knife forward, with her other hand back behind it, as if to guard her face. Looked at her stance and shook his head. "I'm sorry, but that just won't do. Your grip on your knife is way too tense. If someone were to hit that," he then proceeded to quickly draw his sword and hit the knife. Kaitlyn lost her grip, and the knife flew to the ground. "That will happen," he concluded. He then bent down to pick up the knife for her.

He proceeded to help her hold the knife correctly, loose enough that it could move fluently, but firm enough that she didn't just drop it. He then hit it with his sword a couple of times to make sure that she adjusted her grip appropriately. When he was satisfied, he nodded, and then looked at her. He paced around her, saying, "This stance is a little bit awkward. Here," he said, coming up from behind. "Your arm should be held up a little bit more, and you should be bent down a little bit more, like… that," moving her arm and then pushing down on her. But she was hardly listening, because when he touched her, she got shivers. _What's going on?_ She thought to herself. She shook it off, blaming it on excitement.

After another hour or so, Kaitlyn had it down. Glass nodded, impressed. "You sure do learn quickly… quickly than I've ever seen," murmuring the last part to himself. Then he looked up. "There's only one thing left to do." He drew is sword. "And that would be to put your newly found skills to the test." He then ran forward, his sword raised above head.

Kaitlyn quickly countered his attack, but didn't counter. She was familiar with Glass' fighting style, and knew that the attack was a feint, and she would attack, miss and then be overexposed. So she held back. Glass nodded, and then launched into a quick series of attacks. Kaitlyn managed to block them all, although barely. Glass then said, "I'm impressed. You have a disadvantage because your knife is a lot smaller than my sword. Of course," he raised his blade, "You could use that to your advantage. Don't expect me to tell you how, that would be now fun."

The next couple of minutes were filled with back and forth attacks and defends, sometimes one of them would get close to getting the other, but was blocked, even if it was just barely.

After a while more of this, Kaitlyn fell into a kind of rhythm. The fighting was feeling almost natural. She could concentrate on other things, like planning how to defeat Glass. He mentioned something about how the length of her weapon being a disadvantage. But he also said it could be turned into an advantage. Well… if she got in close enough, he wouldn't be able to use his sword as well. So if she could get in close enough, she could win.

This led to a plan being formed. If Glass performed another feint, she could attack then. Glass would dodge out of the way, then probably jump over to her left side, away from her knife, and then deal the "finishing blow". But if she twisted backwards, if she timed it right, she should be able to leap forward, getting close enough to disarm his attempt to block, and then win.

So she waited for… that. It was one of his classic moves for a feint. So she took the bait, and blocked and attacked. She was overextended, but she still had the ability to change directions quickly, as planned. Glass jumped backwards, and… to her left, as predicted. She smiled as her plan came together. He started to swing and she jumped back, and then jumped at him. It was almost unfair for him to compete against a mind such as- holy!

She didn't get to finish the thought. Because when she had jumped for him, she had tripped on a rock, and was hurtling towards him. She splayed her arms out and dropped the knife, trying to catch herself. Glass tried to move out of the way but, as expected, couldn't. She barreled into him, and they both tumbled to the ground. Kaitlyn groaned and got up, embarrassed that she had miscalculated so miserably.

Then she realized that she was sitting on top of Glass. She squealed and leaped backwards and her hands flew towards her face, mortified. Glass laughed and sat up, his cheeks almost as red as hers, but instead he said, "Well, I don't know what you were trying to pull, but I don't think that that is what you want to do to an enemy."

She managed to squeak out, "My gods Glass, I am so… so sorry." He laughed again and helped her up. He then grabbed his knife and gave it back to her.

"While I'm not sure that that was how it was supposed to go," he started, "If you hadn't… well done that, you would have one against me. Here," he said, presenting the knife, "you should keep this. I don't use it, and you are obviously better at it then I am." She stared at the knife for a second, then took it and murmured her thanks.

She began to walk away when Glass yelled at her, "Where do you think you're going?" She turned around confused. She then saw Dorcas, Kent, and Lyn walk up. Glass smiled and said, "While you may have defeated me, I'm not the best in camp. Plus you've only fought against a sword. These guys should… illuminate you on how the other weapons should be countered. Plus, you'll also get to learn how to fight multiple enemies at once, and which weapons are strong against which… and the works."

Kaitlyn's jaw dropped, and then she groaned again. She was going to have a long day ahead of her. She started walking back towards the group, and Kent had started to explain how the lance was used in different countries. But then as Glass passed by her, he whispered in her ear, "Don't worry, you'll do fine. I know it." He then looked at her and smiled, and time seemed to slow. She stared him in the eyes, and she stared back. He exhaled, and it was deep and rich, and she could almost feel his breath on her skin.

She then looked at him differently than she used to. He looked the same as he always did, but he just seemed… different somehow. He still had his short, spiky yellow-green hair, his high cheekbones, and a few shaggy hairs along his jaw, starting to form a beard. He had a black shirt on, with a high collar that hid most of his neck, except the front, which was kept open. He had a golden necklace on, with some kind of chain or pendant attached to it. He had a small tattoo about his wrist, something that looked like a circle above two lines, which were holding the circle up, and then four more lines under that, which looked the same as the top two, just in the opposite direction. It was complicated, and she couldn't quite figure out how to describe it.

But then he broke eye contact, and walked away. Kaitlyn snapped back into reality. She was confused. What had come over her? She was left to ponder this as Kent started, "Now in Ostia, while they do like to wield axes, like that Lord… what's his name… Hector?"

* * *

Kaitlyn laid on the grass, panting. She was exhausted. She had fought every combination of Dorcas, Lyn, and Kent that could possibly be known to man. Sometimes they brought in Wil or Sain, just to make things interesting, and to teach her how to react. She had won all of the simulations, if only just barely, especially with the under-handed tactics she had to use. She felt bad, but Lyn just laughed and said, "In battle, you should do anything in your power to win, seeing as how losing means death."

When the three of them had run out of ideas, they had let Kaitlyn be. They told her that she had passed all expectations, and then left her to rest, leaving her alone with her thoughts. For a while she tried to think about things that she normally thought about, but quickly gave up and focused her thoughts on Glass. Why did she act the way that she did around him? It was so sudden too… or was it? As she reflected back, Glass had quickly become a friend to her, even in the short weeks that she had known him. Somewhere along the way, had he become more than a friend to her?

After debating with herself until the sun was beginning to fall, she couldn't sit still. She got up and started to pace back and forth. She then decided that she had to sort out what she felt, and she decided that the best way to do that was to talk to Glass.

* * *

So she marched back to camp, and immediately spotted him. He raised his hand in greeting, and she smiled at him. She then walked up to him and asked if she could talk to him in private. He raised his eyebrows skeptically, but agreed to go along. So they started to walk through the woods until they came to a clearing. That's when Glass stopped and said, "So what's this about?"

Kaitlyn turned to face him, and struggled to find words. So she decided to be brutally honest. "Glass… recently, I've been feeling… strange, around you. I feel as if when I'm around you, that I'm… better… than I am. Or rather, that I want to be better… for you. And this doesn't make any sense, and now you think I'm crazy," she finished, after seeing his expression, a mix between not knowing what to say and disbelief. And somehow, he still managed to pull it off and make him look… well, cute.

But then he started to laugh, and she felt horrible. What was she thinking, telling him that she had feelings for him? He doesn't know how to respond, and now things were really awkward between them. This was a fragile state, and could easily put a serious gap between them, the last thing that Kaitlyn wanted. So she started to apologize when Glass said, "Well, I'm glad that I'm not the only one after all"

She stared at her in disbelief. Had he just said what she thought that he had said? The he continued, "I thought that you were the same, but I wasn't sure. Then I was afraid to bring it up, afraid that it might drive a rift between us because you didn't like me back. Obviously, you have more guts than I do." He laughed again, and this time, Kaitlyn joined in, although hesitantly.

But then they stopped, and they both just kind of looked at each other, not knowing where to go from there. Until Glass held his hand out. "Come on," he said to her, "I think that I have something in mind." She paused, and then took his hand. Immediately she felt like her skin was on fire and she got a shiver up her arm. But she held on, and he nodded at her. They then started to walk through the woods, until they eventually ended up on a hill, with a perfect view of the sunset. "I spotted out this place earlier while you were training with the others," Glass explained.

They sat down at the top of the hill, not saying any words, just enjoying each other's company. Then Kaitlyn decided to take a chance, and she leaned her head against his shoulder. He stiffened up, but then slowly relaxed. Then she felt his head rest on top of hers. And they watched the sunset like that, together.

* * *

**Yay, romance... maybe? I apologize for that horrible butchery of romance, but that is why it's the secondary genre. Ok, so as you could tell, this is a mini-chapter, so I'm planning on uploading a full length chapter later in the week. This may not happen do to various circumstances, and if it does, it almost defiantly won't be on Thursday. Sorry, but not sorry. Also, thank you to that ONE person who voted, you have saved the entire storyline of Glass. Plus, it's always good to know that someone cares enough to vote. Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter!**

**King35763**

**There's an equation for this, STU or= to BRV. This means that one's stupidity is almost always greater than or equal to one's bravery.- Alcatraz, Alcatraz vs. the shattered glass. (I don't own this quote or any other quotes I put down, sorry for not saying this earlier.)**


	7. Chapter 6, opening

**Disclaimer: I literally own nothing of the story. Even Kaitlyn isn't my character T-T. Whatever, I have actual permission to use her, so ha!**

* * *

"Come on," Lyn called, "We're almost to the edge of this forest!" She ran forward, getting a burst of energy. The others looked around, and Kent shrugged and motioned for his horse to go into a trot. The rest followed suit, except for Glass and Kaitlyn. They just looked at each other, and then grabbed the other's hand.

Kaitlyn sighed. "I honestly don't know where she gets all of that energy," she complained, and Glass laughed.

"Well, it's better than her not having any, and complaining like a three year old." It was Kaitlyn's turn to laugh. They then looked up the path to make sure that no one was looking, and once they confirmed nobody was, they kissed. Then Glass pulled back, and said, "Speaking of which, she might also start complaining if we fall behind. Come on." With that, he ran on ahead.

Kaitlyn was about to run after him, when the voice chimed in. ~_Well,_ ~ he started, _~that was… horrifying~_

_Oh man up, Samson. If that's what your name really is anyway. It doesn't quite sound like you…_

_~Haha, no. That's not my name. Although I do know of two Samsons… both are great men~_

_So you decided to steal his name?_

_~I decided to have a little bit of fun… but it turned out weird…~_

_So what is your name?_

_~My name is~_

"Come on slowpoke!" Glass called. Kaitlyn waved and started to run when the voice spoke again ~_My name is Gaige_~

* * *

When Kaitlyn finally caught up, they were all standing at the edge of the forest, looking at the mountain pass ahead of them. "We've almost made it. To Lycia," Kent said.

Lyn was staring with disbelief. Then she blinked, coming to her senses, "Once we're across, we'll be safe from the bandits, right?" Ever since they defeated Migal's bandits, several groups of bandits had attacked them to various degrees for revenge.

Wil nodded, "We should be. I doubt that they would be stupid enough to cross the border."

Sain wasn't paying attention though. "Oh Lycia at last! It's been far too long since I've been home. Tomorrow, we shall dine on the finest of Lycia's food! And the mistress who works across the border, I've heard some… promising rumors about her. Food and love Kent. There's no better way to restore a man's soul. It's going to be a fine evening!"

Kent just sighed. "If your behavior is going to be like that, it would be best to stay somewhere else. We don't have time for your… fooling around." Sain's face fell.

Lyn just chuckled slightly and said, "The inn will be fine. We haven't had a decent sleep in a while, and we should rest at least a little bit. Plus, I have been craving some good food, and if it's as good as Sain claims…," she shrugged, "We'll grant him this favor."

Sain smiled at her, "Lyndis! You truly are an angel from the heavens above! May the goddess-,"

Lyn cut him off, "It's nothing forget it! Now come on, let's get going!" and with that, they started to move towards the mountain pass, and to Lycia.

* * *

Bug stared at the group approaching and chuckled darkly. "Don't think that you'll get away so easily! Few have been able to pass the Ganelon Bandits, and we aren't about to make an exception!" He then turned to another bandit, "Tell the men to get ready. We have work to do."

* * *

Meanwhile, two people wander about, arguing. The girl with pink hair said, "Well… we're now officially lost. This makes me so MAD!"

Her companion sighed, "Serra, you told me that you were CERTAIN that this was the correct path."

Serra whipped around on him. "What cha' tryin' to say, Erk? Huh? Huh?"

Erk glared at her, "…I swear that you are NOT the woman that I agreed to escort."

Serra glared back, "And WHAT is that supposed to mean?" she almost shrieked at him.

Erk raised his eyebrows at her. "It means, Serra, that I heard that someone needed to escort a frail Lycian priestess to Ostia."

Serra feigned confusion, "So? I am that priestess!"

Erk scoffed at her, "You? Frail? Serra, I'm telling you, you have no need to be escorted. The most hardened of criminals would run screaming in horror after five minutes of your company! I will gladly return your money, just please go to Ostia alone!"

"NO, you're MY escort Erk!" Serra pouted, "I obviously don't need someone to protect me, I just can't be seen without a proper escort. While your personality is nothing special, you're not bad to look at… per se."

"Fine. I can only hope that my nerves can endure the entire journey," Erk grumbled.

Serra glared at him, "What was that?" Right then they heard the sound of clashing metal. Serra whipped her head towards the sound, "Something's happening there. Let's go see!" She proceeded to run towards the noise, despite Erk's protests.

"Ah. Of Course. The first opportunity to get into some trouble, and she leaps in headfirst. No amount of money is worth this." Erk sighed, "Hoo, here we go."

When Erk caught up to Serra, she was squatting in some bushes. She turned and saw him, then motioned him over. When he finally made it over, she loudly whispered to him, "Look at this fight! Isn't it exciting Erk? Look someone is fighting those bandits," her eyes opened up in surprise. "It's a young girl!" She exclaimed loudly.

Erk immediately put his finger to his lips, shushing her. "Keep your voice down! Are you tryin to attract attention to us?" But he didn't see the shadowy figure rise up from behind him. Serra screamed, and Erk whipped around, right as the figure swung with its weapon.

* * *

Lyn was setting the group at an almost break-neck pace. While everyone did understand that she was excited, they were still sore, causing them to slow down. So every couple of minutes she would have to turn and yell at them. She was telling them off exactly like that when all of a sudden Wil drew and arrow and shot into the branch above Lyn. Immediately, a dead bandit dropped down, right next to Lyn.

They heard a chuckling, and a figure stepped out from behind a tree. "Well, you saw Balthazar coming, didn't you?" He pulled an apple from his bag and started to toss it back and forth between his hands. "So, trying to get to Lycia eh?" he asked, "Well don't think that it's going to be that easy. If you leave alive, everyone will think that we've gone soft!"

Kaitlyn shouted back, "So what? We don't care about your filthy reputations! We must get to Lycia, and if you stand in our way, you'll pay dearly, right Glass?" She looked at Glass for support, but he was just staring at the bandit, white as a sheet.

At the mention of Glass' name, the bandit perked up. "Did you just say…? Glass?" He asked, staring at Glass.

Glass stared then nodded grimly. "Hello Bug. It's been a while now." Everyone stared at him, and he began to clarify. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Bug. He's my older brother." If he thought explaining was going to get them to stop staring, it didn't work. Even Florina had peeked out from behind Lyn's back to look at the two of them.

Bug laughed a deep, throaty laugh. "Brother! You're right; it has been far too long! But I must say, I'm surprised! What are ya doin' with this group of people?" Bug questioned. He then took a large bite out of the apple.

Glass started to chew at his lip, "I joined with them to become stronger. I wanted to become a better swordsman. And I have! Not only that, I met someone who is now important to me! So nothing that you can say can make me regret my decision!" Glass spat out, some old family anger letting loose.

Bug just laughed some more. "Are you sure there's really nothing that I could say?" When Glass nodded, Bug's eyes became slits, "How about father? Who's with him, now that Mother is gone?" Glass went rigid as a board. "How could you leave him alone Glass? We're all that he had left, and someone had to get money to support the family."

Glass' mouth was gaping open like a fish, trying to say something in return, but failing to find words to say. Bug then laughed, and then said to him, "Well, I have to destroy this pathetic group here, and if you're part of them, then you'll have to go too. However, if you go back to pa now, then I'll let you go."

Glass stared at him, then turned and looked at Wil, then Lyn, then Kent, and everyone in the group. Lastly just resting his eyes on Kaitlyn. When he looked at her, some of his old flame seemed to kindle in his eyes again and he turned towards Bug, with his hand gripping the handle of his sword. But then his head slumped down, broken. "I'm sorry," he whispered, turning to look at Kaitlyn, "But I can't leave my Father alone."

Kaitlyn stared at him, trying to comprehend the full meaning of what he was said. "What are you saying?" she said back to him. "Are you saying… that you're abandoning me? That you're abandoning us?" slowly getting louder as she continued.

Glass walked over to her and took her hands in his. "No, I'm not abandoning you. It's just… he's my father. I just can't leave him alone. You understand, don't you?" he looked at her, pleading for her understanding.

Instead, her eyes turned cold. "No," she stated, "I don't. I don't remember my parents at all." He looked like he remembered her saying that before, and tried to apologize, but Kaitlyn ripped her hands away. "Don't try to make excuses for it! Just leave! Why stay here? You're not welcome here! Go!" She screamed at him.

Glass stared at her. Then nodded slowly. He started to walk down the road, then he turned back and looked at all of them. Then he turned and walked away, and he didn't look back again.

* * *

**A/N: Hehe, you guys like the cliffhangers? I apologize for not uploading the full chapter (don't worry, I'm not just going to leave you here) but I have been busy with things, and then the 4th of July was on Thursday, and I had to go to a neighborhood barbecue... and so here I am, just getting around to writing my chapter, and I had gotten to this point and it was about 1:30 in the morning, and I just decided, hey, why not just leave it at that until I finish? That way you guys get to read something, and I have more time to write! So there it is, the chapter will update by Monday at the latest, and please review my story. Even if you just think it's plain bad, tell me! Although it would be helpful if you left some hints as why you think that, I'm not even going to try and mandate it! See you with the update!**

**King35763, going back to finish the chapter.**

**Discord! I'm howling at the moon, and sleeping in the middle of a summer afternoon. Discord! Whatever did we do, to make you take our world away? Discord! Are we your pray alone, or are we just a stepping stone for taking back the throne? Discord! We won't take it anymore, so take your tyranny away! - Discord, the living tombstone remix by the Eurobeat ponies.**


	8. Chapter 6, finale

**Disclaimer: I don't own fire emblem or any characters affiliated. King35763 cares (get it like cbs cares? By the way, I don't own that either.)**

Glass stared at her. Then nodded slowly. He started to walk down the road, then he turned back and looked at all of them. Then he turned and walked away, and he didn't look back again.

Kaitlyn didn't turn to watch him go. She just stared straight ahead. But her eyes filled with water, and a single tear fell down her face, into the dirt. Bug grinned at her, "Well, that was a little harsh don't you think? Anyway, now it's time to wipe you all out, and I regret saying that we can't let the women live either."

Kaitlyn snarled at him, furious. "Well then," she growled, "We'll have to follow the same rules. So sorry, but you're not safe, Bug," spitting the last word.

Bug just kept on grinning, but he held up his nearly hold apple, then crushed it in one hand. The juice and bits flew everywhere, and a little bit of the juice dripped from his hand. "You're a cheeky little thing, aren't ya?" he then put his free hand to his mouth. "Hey boys," he yelled, "We've got work to do! Wipe them out and spare none!"

A small army emerged from various places, most smiling like lunatics. Lyn, Sain, and the others took up fighting positions. The bandits also drew their weapons, and spread out to encompass the field. Then the first few attacked.

They went after Lyn first, because she was the obvious leader of the group. She stabbed one through the heart before he could even swing at her. The second one took two swings at her, then she slashed him across the chest, and then the neck. But the third one had circled around her. She didn't see him coming, because usually Glass would have been there to fend him off. But he wasn't there this time.

She barely managed to dodge his first attack, and then had to dive to the ground to avoid his quick follow up. The bandit started to run after her when he got shot through the temple by Wil's arrow. It partially pierced through his head, then stuck there. He stood there for a second, then dropped dead.

The next wave was about to come when a piercing scream came from the woods. Kaitlyn looked up from the fight to see a young woman with pink hair and a purple-haired mage being attacked by a bandit. Kaitlyn frowned, wondering what those civilians were doing. She then turned towards Lyn. "Go help them," she said hurriedly, "Don't worry, we'll take care of things here." Lyn nodded and started to run towards the travelers.

A bandit jumped in her way, shouting, "Don't think you'll get away so easily!" But Dorcas was there, and immediately chopped him down. Lyn nodded her thanks and continued running. Kaitlyn watched her go for a second. She then turned towards the fight, trying to figure out how they were going to get out of this one.

* * *

Glass was walking back, when he heard a piercing scream come from where he'd come from. He looked, but then turned away when it wasn't a voice that he knew. But then he stopped again. 'What if someone I do know screams like that and I'm not here? That could be Lyn, or Florina or… Kaitlyn.' He looked down the path towards his father, and then the other way towards the path of his love. He looked down, contemplating what he needed to do.

* * *

When Lyn was running towards the two travelers, but she couldn't see them because they had been chased out of her view by the bandit. She was near the top of the hill where she last saw them when she heard a voice cry out, "_**adolebit infantem, adolebit.**_" There was a flash, and a horrible smell. She got to the top of hill to discover the bandit burning, and the travelers relatively unharmed, although the mage had a gash on his arm. Lyn stopped, and tried to regain her breath. When it returned to her, she said, "Why are you fighting these bandits."

The mage looked at her suspiciously, and then responded, "… It just happened."

The female snorted with derision. "That's not true Erk!" she exclaimed, then she turned towards Lyn, "That ruffian thought that we were with you! You got us into this horrible situation! Now you had better help us out!"

The mage called Erk rolled his eyes. "Serra," he started with the voice of someone whose patience was wearing thin, "if you hadn't been so intent on running blindly into trouble, this could have been avoided." He turned towards Lyn, bowing his head, saying, "My apologies. Please don't trouble yourself with us."

Lyn looked at them, and decided that she couldn't leave them alone. "Well… if you're going to be fighting them anyway, shouldn't we join together? It will improve both of our chances of winning, and it will make the fight go faster."

Serra seemed to like that idea. She nodded with her eyes closed, as if she had been convinced of something, "Well, that is true. Erk!" she barked at the mage, "Go and help these people!"

Erk looked at her in protest, then after a couple of attempts at speaking said, "But… I… FINE!"

Lyn looked confused. "Wait, so you guys ARE joining us?" she asked for clarification.

Serra's head bobbed up and down. "Oh yes, we'd be glad to!" she exclaimed. "Now," she continued, "for proper introductions. My name is Serra, and this is my escort, Erk." She turned and rubbed his hair, "Be a good boy, and go fight now Erk!" Erk only sighed. But he got up and started to walk, but not before Serra grabbed him good arm and then waved her staff over the other one. The wound patched itself together, leaving not even a scar. Erk nodded his thanks, and then jogged off towards the battle.

Lyn and Serra followed a little bit behind him, although Lyn did manage to catch up to him. When they got back the battlefield, there were seven or so dead bandits. But there were still many more of them, and they were pressing Dorcas and the others back. Luckily, with Lyn's arrival with reinforcements seemed to rejuvenate them, and they fought with more vigor. Lyn joined the immediate fray, while Erk stayed back to throw random fire spells at large groups of bandits and anyone who got too close to Serra, who went to stand next to Kaitlyn.

* * *

The battle raged on, and after another five minutes of intense fighting, Kaitlyn still didn't feel that they were any closer to winning. There were just so many bandits. However, the bandits were no longer smirking. They obviously hadn't expected them to last so long, or for so many of their own to die. Even Bug wasn't grinning anymore.

Bug didn't like how long the battle was taking. He hadn't expected it to take even close to this long. But yet the battle was still raging, and they hadn't even lost a single person yet. That would be something that Bug would remedy. He drew his steel axe, and charged into the fray. This got a look of surprise from the girl in the back, but he ignored her for the moment. Instead, he charged towards the axe-man with red hair.

The man saw Bug, and when their axes clashed, raw strength met raw strength. With every blow, Bug thought that the handle on his axe might break. That would be bad, so he withdrew, even though he could have one against the giant. He threw an underling into his place in the fight, and stepped back, looking for a better way to cripple the squad. He then looked at the girls in the back. One of them appeared to be a healer, and the other mysteriously seemed to be calling the shots, and whenever she offered a piece of advice, one of his men fell. Bug smiled, because he found out how he could cripple the team.

Kaitlyn saw Bug retreat into the crowd, but didn't focus on him. She was too busy trying to keep her friends alive. She would call out bits of advice every couple of seconds, and she was pleased to notice that whenever she did, one of the enemy fell soon after. But then she noticed Bug again, because he was staring straight at her, and grinning. And she knew what he was thinking instantly.

Bug started to run at them. He batted off Florina's attempt to dive-bomb him easily. Then Erk saw him, and immediately assumed harm for Serra. He started to read off an incantation, but Bug got to him before he could finish. He stuck him between the eyes with his butt of his axe, obviously not caring about anyone else except the girls in the back. Erk's spell book flew from out of his hands and onto the ground. Kaitlyn started to draw her knife when she realized. It was the knife that she received from Glass.

She froze for not even half of a second, but then took her hand off of the knife. She instead drew forth the one that she had received from Anna. It was unfamiliar in her hand, and she knew that it would take time to get used to. But even though she was the most reasonable person she knew, she wouldn't use Glass' knife, because that knife would betray her just like Glass did.

As Bug continued to come at the two of them, Serra started to back away. She had no weapon to defend her and would fall to his axe easily. So Bug decided to go for Kaitlyn first, because she was right in front of him. He swung his axe, and Kaitlyn raised her knife to defend. When their weapons met, it was only thanks to her rigorous training day, and all of her training since that she was able to hold onto the knife. But then he swung again, and this time the knife flew free from her hands.

Kaitlyn froze. She was defenseless. She started to back away, but tripped over a rock that she stepped on. She fell down, and still tried to back away, but then Bug's shadow was on top of her, and he was standing right there. He grinned at her then said, "Checkmate, little tyke." He then raised his axe, and it seemed to block out the sun. Kaitlyn closed her eyes, waiting for the fatal blow.

Instead, she heard a sound that she hadn't ever heard before. It sounded resonant, like someone had stuck something hollow. It was beautiful. She opened her eyes, and what she saw was exactly that. Beautiful. It was Glass.

He was standing above her, his namesake sword pushing off Bug's axe. Bug, surprised, backed up a few steps. Glass stepped forward too, sword at the ready. But then he turned towards Kaitlyn, and winking, said, "Well, I couldn't leave you alone now could I?" He then turned towards Bug. "If you're afraid of Dad being alone so bad, go home yourself. I'll find some way to send home money that won't involve killing innocents."

Bug sneered at him, "Well, that's no way to treat your elder brother. I guess that I still have to teach you your manners. Come," he said, raising his axe, "I believe you've been waiting for this for a while."

Glass was about to rush him, when Kaitlyn grabbed him to stop him. "He wants you to rush him. If you're moving to him, you'll just be playing right what he wants." Glass turned at her. Then nodded at her, and then kissed her on her forehead. Kaitlyn immediately blushed, embarrassed, but that's when Bug decided to attack.

Glass must have planned it like that, however, because he immediately countered Bug's attack then launched into a counter-attack. Bug fended them off quickly and launched his own counter-attack. The cycle continued, but neither of them managed to scratch the other. But Glass was fast, and he was getting closer to cutting Bug with every attack. Bug started to look desperate.

Bug was having troubles keeping up with his brother. He was always a lot bigger and stronger than Glass, but in return Glass was more speedy and agile. Plus he was getting pretty close to hitting Bug, so Bug needed to do something fast. Then he saw the green-haired girl again, and he knew what to do. If he was going to win this fight, he needed to go after Glass' weakness, and it was obviously this girl.

Kaitlyn watched the fight in pure awe. The two new each other so well that it looked like what they were doing was some kind of dance sequence. It was mesmerizing, in a deadly kind of way. Kaitlyn actually started to see a pattern start to form, and started to understand their flow of battle. But then the pattern was broken.

Kaitlyn snapped out of her trance to see Bug charging at her, and she understood. If she was killed, then Glass wouldn't be able to fight, not properly anyway. So for the second time that day, Kaitlyn knew that she would die. But this time she would go down swinging. She drew forth Glass' knife, and held it at the ready as Bug swung his axe again.

Blood. Blood was splattering everywhere. And a horrible sound rang out. The sound of glass breaking. And there was Glass, falling backwards, still holding onto his broken sword. The blood was his. It was erupting from the huge gash in his chest. Everything was in slow motion. But then it ended, and Glass was lying on the ground, not moving.

"GLASS!" she screamed! Running towards him. But then there was Bug, stopping her, smiling. "Thank you," he said, "that worked out even better than I could have hoped. Couldn't have done it without you. Too bad no one's going to be able to protect you." And it was true. Nobody could get to her. Not even Lyn could come. She was surrounded, and she kept on shouting Kaitlyn's name, all the while she kept of trying to break though. But there were just too many of them.

Bug raised his axe for one final time, but this time Kaitlyn was different. Kaitlyn was dangerous. Bug was swinging his axe down, but Kaitlyn was already diving forward to the ground. She landed next to Bug's leg. She in turn raised the knife above her head, and then swung it into the back of his leg. Bug howled with pain, but Kaitlyn didn't stop. Instead, she pulled the knife down his leg, tearing muscle after muscle. Bug could no longer support his own weight, and tumbled to the ground. Kaitlyn stood up above Bug. He looked at her… but didn't have fear. Just hatred. And then he lunged at her.

Kaitlyn jumped back but tripped over Glass' arm. She took a couple of steps back, and then fell to the ground. When she fell, her arm hit something hard. She pulled herself up, to see that despite his leg, Bug was standing above her again. Kaitlyn started to back up again, like she had at the before the whole affair started. But this time, as she scrambled back, she almost fell over the hard thing again. She looked at it and realized it was Erk's fire book.

What happened next seemed like Kaitlyn wasn't in control of her body. Seemingly on its own accord, her body grabbed the book and got up, and backed up out of Bug's reach. She then opened the book, and started to read off one of the incantations, "_**Invoco in animam Phoenix**_," she started to read.

Erk started to stir. He heard what she was reading, and realized that she had his book. He grabbed her leg, "Don't!" he yelled at her, "It's too powerful for even me to control!"

But Kaitlyn paid him no heed, and continued to read. "_**Obsecro te percusserit qui obstiterit." **_She continued, and then finished with, "_**Urere eorum ossibus et anima, donec manet tantum cinis!"**_

Immediately Kaitlyn felt something swell up inside her, something untapped before. It was big, wild, and unruly. But then it seemed to force itself out of her. When it did, immediately huge flames roared from in front of her. They grew until they took the form of a giant bird. Everyone immediately stopped fighting to look at it. But then the fire pulsated, and made the most horrible noise anyone there had ever heard.

Then the bird looked at one bandit, and immediately he turned into a pile of smoldering ash. Some bandits saw this and started to run, but they were the next to go. All of the bandits started to run, but the great bird merely spread its wings, and the rest of the bandits turned to ash. It then shrieked again, and dissolved, the spell have run its course.

Everyone stared at Kaitlyn, and she stared at the book in her hands. Had she really just done that? Had she really summoned that monster that killed all of those bandits? Then she noticed him. Bug. He was still alive, but he was on his knees, and had dropped his axe. When Kaitlyn looked at him, he cowered, saying, "Please, please don't hurt me! I give up! Just please let me live!"

Kaitlyn walked up to him, and simply stood there. Then she said, "Fine. I'll let you live." Bug smiled for a second, but then Kaitlyn said, "But ONLY because you offered Glass a choice. And so I offer you the same choice. Go look after your father, or die."

Bug looked at her, then simple nodded. He then started to drag himself down the path, the same one that Glass had started down at the beginning of the fight. 'Oh gods,' Kaitlyn realized, "Glass!" She then turned and ran to him.

* * *

Serra was already there, using her staff to try and heal him, but Kaitlyn could tell by Serra's face that it wasn't going well. When she got there, she grabbed his hand. He turned towards her and smiled weakly. "Hey," he almost whispered, "Was that big bird thing you?" She smiled and nodded. He nodded, "Thought so. No one else could have done something so destructive." He chuckled at that, and Kaitlyn laughed a bit, despite the situation. She guessed that it was the unreal quality that was surrounding that moment, like some kind of bad dream.

Glass kept on looking at her, but his breathing became more labored. "Kaitlyn, you are the most wonderful girl I ever met. You're intelligent beyond belief, kind, and you actually listen to what I have to say. Thank you Kaitlyn, for being there for me. Thank you… and I love you."

With that, he pulled her close, and kissed her. And for that moment, the world seemed right and wrong, spinning yet staying very still, and a bunch of other things that Kaitlyn knew were impossible, but there was no other way to describe it. But then, slowly, Glass pulled away. "With that," he started, "I am content."

This frightened Kaitlyn more than anything else. "No Glass," she whispered, "you can't go. You can't go, because I love you too. I love you Glass. So please," she pleaded, "Just hang on." Glass looked at her, and his eyes were filled with pure joy. But then he breathed in deeply, then exhaled the for the longest time. But he didn't breathe in again, and his eyes fogged over.

Kaitlyn couldn't see anything else, just his face, smiling at her. Then she couldn't see anything, the tears were covering her eyes completely and running down her face. She cried, and called out to him over and over, but he didn't respond, just kept on looking at her. She felt someone grab her shoulders, but she pulled away, and hugged the body that used to be Glass. But then she felt the hand again, and she heard a voice say, "As long as you stay with Lyn, I will always be with you."

The voice was… it couldn't be. Kaitlyn turned around, slowly, to see Glass standing above her. He smiled at her, then said, "Just stick with Lyn. But rather, even if you don't, I'll always be with you." Kaitlyn couldn't speak, just stare. This Glass was glowing around the edges, and you couldn't quite look at him straight. But it was Glass.

Glass hugged her for the longest of times. Then he pulled back, and smiling, turned towards Lyn. He then kneeled to her. "Lyn, you are the master of the Mani Katti, the sword of spirits. Will you allow me to serve you indefinitely?"

Lyn didn't know what to say for a moment. But then she looked at him, and smiled. "Yes Glass. It would be my honor." She then drew forth the Mani Katti. The whole sword was glowing golden white. Glass thanked her, then turned and smiled at Kaitlyn one last time. Then his spirit turned and walked into the sword. After a moment, the glow faded. But on the blade, there were words in Glass' handwriting. They read, "Remember, I'll be with you. Always." Then they slowly faded.

Kaitlyn merely at and stared. She couldn't believe what had happened. She… she was going into shock. She turned and looked at Glass, the one that didn't move anymore. Then she saw his golden necklace. She hesitantly grabbed it, and slowly took it off of him. The pendant on it was an intricate design of an emerald, a sapphire, and ruby. Each of them, somehow, made up peculiar design. Kaitlyn stared at it, then slipped it over her head.

It was then that Lyn came over. "Come on," she said softly, "We'll bury Glass properly. But you should rest. You've been through a lot." Kaitlyn could only nod. With a great amount of help from both Lyn and Sain, she stood up and, while leaning on both of them, started to walk. She kept on walking, but then, suddenly, her vision blackened, and she felt her legs give way. She could her Lyn, Sain, and the others shouting, but she could do nothing as she hit the ground. And then she lost consciousness.

* * *

**A/N: You're right Cormag, having the characters blackout at the end of chapters IS fun! Anyway, sorry that it wasn't done by Monday, but I'm never on time with these things. Sorry, trying to get better with that. Anyway, just as an F.Y.I, in the original copy of this, when Lyn asks if they ARE joining them, I was going to say that Erk's ears looked pointy and he was going to say that it would only be logical. But then I decided that that would be out of place in this story. Unless you guys want more humor in this story, then I can do things like that. But I never know what you want, because no one ever reviews! Heck, just send a pm if you want! I just want some feedback! Tell me what I'm doing well and what I'm doing badly, so I can keep doing the good and improve the bad! Because all I have to go on right now is what Cormag says, that Gunlord rather liked the first chapter, and that it was creative of me to let Glass live (by the way Gingalain, thanks I appreciate that!). Anyway, I'm done ranting now, I'll see you all next chapter!**

**King35763, going off to rant about something else**

**So long, my friend and adversary! But I'll wait for you! – Under the Cover of Darkness by The Strokes**


	9. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Own Fire Emblem, I do not! (Also, these are not the droids you're looking for (yes I know wrong character and also overused line, but I DON'T CARE!)(And final note, I don't own star wars either, because Disney got it JUST before I did.))**

* * *

They had made it. They were officially in Lycia, land where her mother was born. Lyn was overwhelmed with feelings, just standing there. But the cost was almost too much. Glass was dead, and Kaitlyn wasn't waking up. It had been three days, and while they had been sustaining her, she wasn't waking up. Lyn glanced at her friend worriedly, who was currently riding on the back of Sain's hoped she would wake up soon. She missed her company.

* * *

Kaitlyn was floating. She was never in one place. First she was above her body, looking down at everyone as they ran over to see what had happened. Then she was over a mercenary camp, where a man stumbles in, and fights what appeared to be the leader. He won swiftly, looking like he was even more surprised than everyone else. She stuck with the man for a while, and followed him as a mercenary. She quickly saw him become friends with the man he beat the first day. Then one day his friend, the head of the camp, was overthrown. Being his friend, the man was cast out of the group. She watched him walk down the path, looking determined. Then she saw an old man, drinking medicine while another man stood behind him, smiling as the other man finished the medicine. This happened for a while, and all the while Kaitlyn just floated there and watched, not quite sure what was happening, and intrigued.

But then it all stopped, and she was floating in darkness, with specks of bright light all around her. But then she heard someone cough behind her. Startled, she whipped around. The man standing behind her was tall, a little over 6 feet. He stood there in a coat, a black shirt, and some blue pants made of a fabric she hadn't seen before.

"Hello Kaitlyn," he said in a low voice. The voice was familiar, but she just... couldn't place it, even though she knew that she should.

"Have we... met before?" she asked, trying to remember him, but just couldn't remember him.

He smirked at her, then put his hands behind his back and started to pace. "Well... not officially. But we do know each other. I'm Gaige," he said, holding out his hand in greeting. Kaitlyn just stared.

"Wait," she started, "You're... Gaige. As in THE Gaige." He nodded. "The Gaige inside my head Gaige who told me his name was Samson but it really wasn't?" He grimaced, and then nodded. When it became blatantly obvious that she wasn't going to shake his hand, he slowly retracted it.

"I'm not completely... comfortable around people at first," he started to explain. "My humor is... lacking even at best of times, but I don't do that well around people I don't know."

Kaitlyn had about a thousand questions spinning around in her head, so she just blurted out the first one that she could distinguishably make out. Unfortunately, it happened to be, "What's up with your clothes?"

He looked at her, surprised. Then he smiled, and pulling at his jacket said, "Oh, this? They call this an aviator's jacket." It was very worn out, and had obviously been worn a lot. "These are called jeans, blue jeans to be officially correct," he continued to explain, this time indicating his pants. He then said, "If they're too weird for you, I can change into something more familiar to you."

Kaitlyn considered, and then nodded. Suddenly there was a flash, and Gaige was standing there in a new outfit. He was wearing a black shirt again, but this one had long sleeves. He was wearing a blood red scarf that wrapped around his neck and mouth, and then trailed behind him. His brown hair was slicked back, he had an earring in, and his eyes were a dazzling shade of blue. His pants were now black and form-fitting, and he wore a blue sash. Each of his arms he had metal plating running up on one side. They then turned into thin metal rods that ran across the back of his hands, which then connected to intricate metal plates on his fingers, which went all the way down, and ended in claw-shapes. When he wiggled his hands, sparks flew between his fingers.

But the most impressive parts were the weapons. They were everywhere, on his belt, across his back, in shoulder holds, under his sash, on his arms, some even piercing through his scarf behind him.

Kaitlyn just gawked at him for a moment. Then she came back to her senses. She then asked her next question. "I saw my own body for a moment back there," she started. "So does that mean that I'm..." she trailed off, not wanting to say it, even though it wouldn't make it any less true.

Gaige caught her drift and laughed. "No," he started, "you're not dead. Sorry, but even your best attempt at killing yourself didn't work. Not that it would matter," he continued drifting off so that the last part was almost inaudible.

Kaitlyn, however, did hear it, and quickly followed up with, "What is that supposed to mean, it wouldn't matter if I died? If I die, then... then..." she trailed off, trying to think of what would happen if she died. She supposed her friends would be sad. But that would be about it. She couldn't really think of an impact her death would make.

Gaige glared at her then. "Never think that," he growled. "Never EVER, think like that. You are very important, obviously more than you know." Kaitlyn was going to ask what he meant by that, but he just kept on going, "What I meant by that comment was if you died, it wouldn't matter, because I would bring you back!" He instantly regretted saying that, and put his hand on his head.

Kaitlyn was stunned. "You'll bring me back?" she whispered, "If I die... I'll be brought back?" Gaige paused, and then hesitantly nodded.

"But don't die," Gaige said, cutting off what she was about to say. "The price... is high. Much too high. Let's just say that there are certain people who have the ability to altar the world around them in a big way. Each of them can change destiny, for better or for worse. These people usually, under normal circumstances, aren't allowed to die. Not for a time anyway, it depends on the person. And now I've said far too much." He concluded, leaving her with even more questions.

"Why me?" she asked him. He just smiled and shook his head no.

"It's time you get going. Anymore time and your friends are going to bury you alive!" He chuckled, and pointed at her. But there was more that she wanted to ask! She ran forward, shielding her eyes as she ran towards him, through the piercing light.

* * *

Kaitlyn eyes flew open, and she quickly jolted up into a sitting position. A young woman in the room screamed and ran out. Kaitlyn looked at the door, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Then she looked around at the room she was in. She was lying in a bed, with only a very large shirt on for clothing. There was a fire going, and there was a table with chairs around it close to it. There was also a chair close to the bed, as if someone was watching her sleep. The thought made she shudder.

She then heard the sound of someone running towards the room. Kaitlyn panicked at that sound. Someone was attacking. She looked around for a weapon, and found her clock hung up on the bed post. She reached into it and pulled out one of her knives. She unsheathed it right as her attacker ran into her room. But as she saw the green hair and the swords, she knew that she was in no danger. It was Lyn.

Lyn just stood there for a moment, looking at Kaitlyn in shock. Kaitlyn lowered her knife, and sheathed it. Lyn still just stood there. But then she started to walk towards her briskly, and then dove at Kaitlyn, hugging her. Kaitlyn felt her shoulder get wet as Lyn's tears hit it. "Kaitlyn, you're all right. You're all right," and she just kept on hugging Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn slowly started to hug back.

It went on like this for a couple of minutes before Lyn pulled away. She then flopped down into the chair, and Kaitlyn didn't feel as uncomfortable knowing it was Lyn watching. But it still begged the question why was she watching her. She was going to ask, when Lyn said, "I'm sorry, it's just...I didn't know if you were going to be alright. No one did, not even Serra. And after three days..."

That caught Kaitlyn's attention and she cut in. "Woah woah woah," she interrupted, "what's this about three days?"

Lyn looked at her. "Kaitlyn, I don't know how to say this," she started slowly, "But you were asleep for three whole days."

Kaitlyn stared at her in disbelief. "I can't have! I was only asleep for half an hour, an hour max!" Lyn shook her head, and Kaitlyn slumped back. She was asleep for three days. Three days she had kept them from moving towards Lyn grandfather. "I'm so sorry Lyn; I've kept you from your grandfather even longer."

Lyn shook her head. "It's fine Kaitlyn. It was more important that you are ok. However," she fidgeted awkwardly. "We do need to talk."

Kaitlyn looked at her questioningly. "About what?" she asked hesitantly.

Lyn opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but couldn't find the words, so she closed it. This happened a few times for about a minute until she finally motioned towards Kaitlyn's hands. Kaitlyn looked and saw the knife in her hands. Glass' knife. All Kaitlyn could say was, "Oh."

They sat there awkwardly for a bit, until Lyn made like she was about to say something. Kaitlyn quickly cut her off, saying, "You know, I don't really think that I'm...up to it right now."

Lyn looked like she wanted to protest, but then she nodded. "Well...you rest for now. I'm going to leave you be." She smiled, then got up and started to walk towards the door. But the she turned around saying, "Oh yeah, the new mage Erk wanted to see you when you woke up. I'll send him in when you're ready."

She had just walked out of the room when Kaitlyn said, "Hey Lyn!" Lyn put her head through the door. Kaitlyn smiled, and said, "There have been three times when I've woken up in a strange place. Two of those times, I've been in your care. Thanks." Lyn smiled back, and nodded.

Kaitlyn sat there for a couple of seconds, before quickly getting up and running to the bathroom. Three days without using the facilities was a long time.

* * *

As Kaitlyn waited for Erk to come back in, she found her proper clothes, and put them on. She felt a lot more comfortable in them then she did in that shirt anyway. She had just sat down on the bed again when there was a knock at the door, and Erk came in.

Kaitlyn motioned for them to sit at the table, and he nodded. They sat down across from each other, Kaitlyn not speaking because she didn't know what this was about. She waited for Erk to initiate the conversation, but he didn't. He just sat there, staring at her like he was studying her. Kaitlyn felt awkward, having him just staring at her. So she tried to start the conversation by asking, "May I ask what this is about?"

Erk snapped out of the trance-like state he was in immediately. "Sorry, yes you may." He then reached into his robes, and pulled out a tome. He set it on the table in front of him. "Do you know what this is?" he asked.

"It's a book...?" Kaitlyn offered, half-jokingly. Erk didn't laugh.

"Yes, but what is it?" he pressed. Kaitlyn looked at it. The book's cover was in red, with gold inlay all around it, so it formed a pattern. There were also some strange-looking runes on the top, also in gold inlay. But she didn't need to be able to read what it said. She knew what she was looking at through other methods.

Erk was a mage, and mages used magic. Seeing how he carried it in his robe, that implied that he didn't just grab a random book, he kept this one on his person. This meant that it was a spell tome. But it didn't take a genius to figure that one out. Also, from the red color, that made it obvious what kind of element it was. "It's a spell book, containing fire magic," she told him. He nodded, but wasn't overly impressed, seeing how it wasn't the hardest thing to figure out. Of course, she didn't even need to try.

"Correct. It happens to be an advanced one, Elfire," he explained. "It isn't a very hard one to use, just slightly more powerful then the basic fire book. This however," he said as he pulled a second book from his robe and laid it on the table, "Is much further advanced than that."

Kaitlyn could tell that just by looking at it. It was thinner, and had a lot more gold on it. It almost glowed with power. Also, Erk was being a lot more protective of it. Erk then continued on. "It's called Bolganone. I have been training in magic use since a child, and I can only use the most basic of spells in this book." She looked at him in surprise. She had pegged him of being on the level of some masters. He caught the look and smirked, "Oh don't worry. Most people can't even get spells out of Elfire." He laughed, and she giggled too, and some of the tension between them went away.

After they finished laughing, Erk opened the book near its beginning. "Anyway, this is the last spell I can cast safely. He then opened the book close to the back and pushed it towards her again. "This," he said pointing to a short paragraph near the end of the second page, "Is what you cast. Not only is it way more powerful than what a majority of people can cast, it's also said to be extremely hard to cast and keep under control."

Kaitlyn stared at him, waiting for him to say that he was joking and pull out the basic fire book, and say that she had managed to start the weakest spell, and he then pulled out a big spell. But he didn't, he only stared at her. "There is no way that you could cast that spell, so I ask you," he started, leaning in closer, "Who trained you, and how long have you trained?"

She could only stare back. She didn't remember training with anyone. Of course, she didn't remember much before waking up in that field. If she did train with anyone, it certainly didn't help anymore. She couldn't read anything on the pages in front of her. But back in the fight... they were readable. She had understood them then, so why not now?

She relayed her thoughts to Erk. He looked puzzled, and she could tell that he wasn't sure if she was telling the truth. But then slowly, he relaxed, seeing that she would have no reason to lie. "Well, then there's only one thing to do," he stated, picking up the Bolganone and putting it back in its hidden pocket, "And that would be to train you. We'll start as soon as we're on the road." And without waiting to hear her response, he walked out of the room.

Kaitlyn watch him go, shocked by his response. But then she felt overwhelmingly tired. She was still recovering, she told herself, and she got into the bed and slowly fell asleep.

* * *

Black space again. This was beginning to become a habit for Kaitlyn, having weird dreams. She just floated there for a while, until out of the darkness, Gaige appeared, still in his battle outfit. Except for this time, there was some blood on some of his weapons, and he appeared to have some new ones. "Hello Kaitlyn," he said pleasantly.

She merely sighed. "When's the next time that I'll be able to sleep normally?" she questioned, only half-kidding. Gaige laughed anyway. He was in an even better mood than the last time she had met him.

"Don't worry about that," he countered, "This does the same thing for your body as regular sleep, except it's only more useful. It allows us to communicate without anyone else interfering. If you really want normal sleep, that's fine, I won't be able to talk to you all the time. I do have other things to do. You've just been... on a priority lately."

"What does that mean?" she scoffed.

"It means that I've had to keep a close eye on you recently. Good thing too, without my help you would have died in that last battle. And we know that you're supposed to avoid dying!" he smirked at her, as if he enjoyed talking to her like a child.

"What do you mean your help? You did nothing the last battle!"

Gaige only grinned at her. "Really? Because that fire spell certainly seemed to help!"

"You were behind that!" Kaitlyn gawked at him.

"Slightly. I made the spell readable for you and added a little of my power. But honestly, if you trained a bit, you could perform those levels of magic fairly soon. Not that you're going to, those spell books are so rare that you'd be lucky to get your hands on one anytime soon!"

Kaitlyn didn't totally follow him, but still got the gist of it. She decided to switch topics, wanting to learn as much as possible, because she didn't know when she was going to wake up or how much time she had in here. "So, can I only talk to you in my sleep?"

Gaige shook his head, "No, it's not the only way. It's simply the easiest, as the other require some... training on your part."

Kaitlyn looked at him suspiciously. "What kind of training are you referring to?" she cautiously asked.

Gaige didn't pay any attention to her attitude, "Oh don't worry, just some mind training. Shouldn't be all that bad. Currently I can talk to you when you're awake in a limited form. After we go through the training, you should be able to contact me whenever you like. After you've completely got it down, you may even be able to ask for my help. If I want to give it is another matter," he finished with a wolfish grin. "Anyway, our time is up this time around, see you soon!"

Kaitlyn started to protest, but felt herself being pulled backwards. She was pulled away from Gaige, and was swallowed by blackness. Then she opened her eyes, and she was back in the bed in the inn.

* * *

Lyn checked by again, and Kaitlyn managed to convince her that she was fine, and she would be able to travel. She insisted that they start traveling the next day, and Lyn reluctantly agreed.

The next morning, they moved out of the town, towards Araphan. After a bit of traveling, Erk walked over to Kaitlyn, despite Serra's loud protests. "We should start your training." Kaitlyn nodded her consent, knowing there was nothing she could do about it. Also, if she was studying, her thoughts would stop drifting towards the absence of Glass.

He started out with reading. Kaitlyn picked up quickly, because once you recognized the runes that made up the alphabet, the rules were generally the same as the ones she regularly followed. Erk explained that that was because their language descended from that one, and while it was changed, it stayed basically the same. "It's hard to make a language, so it's best to just altar the current ones," he explained with a smirk.

However, Erk was very cautious. Even though she had the reading down, he still insisted on staying on it. He said that if she made any mistakes in translating, the spell wouldn't work, as a best case scenario. Otherwise, it might be the same spell with unintended effects, a different spell entirely, or just backfire on the caster.

Even with all of his caution, she finished the reading lesson by dinner, but only begrudgingly. Erk said that he had to spend three months just on reading, and the only reason that they weren't going to do the same was simply because there wasn't the time. Kaitlyn smirked at him, and jokingly said, "And because I would kick your ass if you tried that."

Erk smirked at her, then muttered, "_**Offensio aura invoco**_" Immediately, small shocks started to appear around Erk. "You could try," he simply stated. Kaitlyn however, was unimpressed. She knew that it was merely a ruse, and it only looked impressive.

So she looked him back in the eye and stated, "_**Offensio aura invoco**_" and applied the same magic. "I wouldn't be so sure what you're thinking of would be the outcome," she retorted.

Erk looked back in surprise. He obviously didn't expect her to do that. However, he kept it to himself. He was going to say something else when Serra came over. "ERK! YOU SPENT ALL DAY WITH KAITLYN! SPEND MORE TIME WITH ME!" she whined, dragging him away. Kaitlyn sighed, wondering what Erk suffered through. Serra seemed to enjoy putting him through as much suffering as possible. What Serra would do to keep up that enjoyment was beyond Kaitlyn, but it made her shiver with fear.

Lyn slowly walked over, and started to walk next to Kaitlyn. They walked silently next to each other, merely enjoying each other's company. Plus Kaitlyn knew it was comforting for Lyn, seeing as how she had been asleep for three days straight. From what she heard from Wil, in the three days that Kaitlyn had been sleeping, Lyn barely slept at all and spent most of her time next to Kaitlyn to see if there were any signs of change.

"So," Lyn finally said to break the silence, "Magic, huh?"

Kaitlyn shook her head good-naturedly. "Apparently! Who would have guessed, huh?"

Lyn nodded her agreement. They then continued to walk. Kaitlyn looked at what the others were doing. Kent was talking to Sain, and the two seemed to be having a friendly argument. Serra had finished yelling at Erk, but somehow had forced him to carry all of her belongings. Dorcas was talking to Wil, and Florina was in the very back, walking alongside her horse, and kept on glancing at Lyn.

Then suddenly, Lyn put her hand on Kaitlyn's shoulder. Kaitlyn turned, surprised. She turned and saw Lyn staring at her with an intense look on her face. Before Kaitlyn could say anything, Lyn said, "It's good to have you back." She then walked away before Kaitlyn could respond. Before Kaitlyn could see her tears.

* * *

The next day, Erk woke up Kaitlyn early, before anyone else in the camp. Kaitlyn was pissed that whoever the watch-person was appeared to be asleep also, until she realized that Erk was on the last watch. She got up sluggishly, wondering what he wanted. He put his finger to his lip and motioned for her to follow him. He then got up and walked towards Sain, and told him to watch the camp. Sain waved his hand and looked like he fell asleep, but Kaitlyn and Erk knew that he would get up soon. So she got up and followed Erk out of the camp.

They kept on walking until they reached a little clearing about five minutes from the camp. Erk then stopped and looked at Kaitlyn, saying, "This should be far enough." He then pulled out his spell books, and put them on a tree-stump at the edge of the clearing. As he walked back towards the center, he said to her, "Wouldn't want to wake up the camp, would we?" as if that cleared everything up.

When he reached the center of the clearing, he stood there stiffly, not saying anything. Kaitlyn followed, knowing that he wouldn't say anything until he wanted to. After a few minutes, Erk finally spoke. "What I'm about to teach you if one of the most fundamentals of magic, yet it is rarely taught, because it's not common knowledge. My master came up with this to explain the differences in magic, but it has yet to be proven. However, I believe it, and I'll teach it to you."

This made Kaitlyn curious. A theory as to why magic was different? She hadn't heard of magic being different. She'd even heard of some continents using entire platoon of mages, all using spells designed to slaughter the enemy, such as a platoon specifically for fireballs. But Kaitlyn didn't voice her thoughts, and waited for Erk to explain.

His opening was surprisingly lacking though. "What is fire?" he asked, and then he waited. Kaitlyn felt very disappointed. What is fire? Seriously? Still, it might lead into something interesting, so she decided to play along.

"Fire is one of the four elements, which are fire, water, earth and air. It's also one of the three spells of anima that allow mages to control fire, air, and lightning. It's more powerful than wind, but less accurate. Also, it's less powerful than lightning, but more accurate. Finally, fire users are weak against lightning users, and more effective against wind users, forming the trinity of magic."

Erk just waved his hand, dismissing the explanation. "Yes, but what is it? Is it something to keep you warm, something to cook food, something to burn down forests and houses? What is it?"

Kaitlyn thought carefully, wanting to answer correctly. But she couldn't think of the answer. "Fire is all of those things. Those are all something that fire does."

Erk pointed at her triumphantly. "Yes!" he exclaimed, "that's the point!"

Kaitlyn looked at him in confusion, so he continued, "Fire is what we make it to be. We can manipulate the magic to how we want. That's why magic is different, because each person has a different expectation in mind of what the magic is supposed to do! Take the phoenix spell you cast the other day. For you, a bird of fire appeared above your body, and when it did all of the enemies burned up. For another person who casts it, maybe no bird appears, just everyone lights on fire. For another one, the bird might appear but personally attack the enemies instead. Each one does different things based off of the circumstances of the mage who cast it."

Kaitlyn slowly nodded. It made sense, entirely. But... still, it seemed a little bit too obvious. Erk had said that this wasn't widely known, and yet it seemed to be one of the most obvious things. So she decided to clarify.

"If the spell varies based off of the circumstances, why are the words different per spell? If you can make any spell do anything, why use a different spell at all?"

Erk, turned towards her, surprised at her question. Then he smiled. "Well, as you know from reading spells, each spell has an outline of what is going to happen roughly, yes?" Kaitlyn nodded, and he continued. "This limits how changeable the spell can be. If you tell the spell to do one thing, but expect it to do something else entirely, that's what causes failures and backfires."

Kaitlyn nodded, because this made sense. "While this sounds very good, how do I know that it's true? I've never actually seen a difference of the same spell cast by separate people." She knew that she was grasping at straws here, but she wanted to see how Erk would react.

Erk looked at her, and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something. But then nothing came out, so he closed his mouth and thought for a second. But then he smiled eerily. He then said, "It can't be proven with words. Only actions. The word for fire is ignis. Use it to defend yourself." Before Kaitlyn could ask for an explanation, Erk shouted, "_**IGNIS!**_" and a fireball grew above his head, he then dropped his hand from above his head, and the fireball zoomed at Kaitlyn.

There was no time to react. Kaitlyn needed some type of barrier, protection. But there was no time to run and find one; the fireball would get her before she could even look. So she closed her eyes, and let instinct take over. She heard a voice, her voice, shout, "_**IGNIS!**_" and felt a heat rising up. She waited for the fireball to hit her, but the heat stayed stationary.

She opened her eyes slowly. In front of her wasn't a fireball, but a wall of flame. It rose up from the ground to above her head, and yet it wasn't burning anything that it was touching. She saw Erk on the other side, nodding. This set her off. He had nearly just killed her, and he was just nodding! She shouted out the spell word again, and the fire in front of her separated into dozens of tiny fireballs. Each of them flew towards Erk at full speed, and it was all he could do to stop them.

When he had caught the last one, he looked at Kaitlyn in disbelief. But then he also repeated the spell, and two halos of fire appeared in front of him. He threw one, and then the other, and each curved out to the side. Kaitlyn dove forward, narrowly avoiding the discs. While in the air, she yelled out fire, and a stream of fire propelled from her extended hands.

He blocked that with a spinning vortex of fire, and then launched it at Kaitlyn. She countered by a small wedge of fire in front of her, splitting the vortex in half. She countered with another spell, which he neutralized and countered, only for her to do the same.

The battle continued on for a few more minutes, neither of them slipping up or making any mistakes. Then Erk stopped, and said, "Give me your best shot." He then stretched his arms out, leaving his chest completely bare.

Kaitlyn didn't fall for it one second. If he opened up his chest like that, it meant that he probably had something in mind to counter an attack to the front. However, she knew that if she attacked the sides he could probably counter those too. She decided that the only way to actually get him here was for him to think that she fell for his trap, and then attack elsewhere.

So she said the word for fire, and with her pointer and middle fingers on her hands, launched dozens of little sparks at Erk. Then she made a fireball like he had done in the beginning. When it was big enough for her purposes, she dropped her hand. The fireball flew right at Erk.

He reacted quickly, and threw up a barrier in front of him. But as he was doing that, the sparks that she'd thrown landed around Erk, encompassing him. So while he was countering the fireball, she made all of the sparks into huge columns of flame, all pointed towards Erk. She couldn't see him through the flames. While they wouldn't kill him, they would certainly hurt. Hurt enough to show him not to suddenly attack her.

But when the flames died down, Erk was still standing, unscathed. Instead, he was surrounded by a crackling shield of electricity. When that had finished too, he grinned at her, saying, "Next time you try something like that, make sure that you distract them when launching the sparks. It was kind of a giveaway."

Kaitlyn smiled back. "I'll keep that in mind," she replied sweetly. Then she snapped her fingers, and her very last spark ignited, right into Erk's chest. He was hurled backwards, flying a good ten feet, before crashing back to the ground and rolling until he stopped.

He laid there for a while. But when he got up, he was laughing. "Well," he said, "Let's not duel again." And she laughed too, because that was as close as he was going to get to admitting defeat. But then he continued, "Well you obviously learned the lesson."

Kaitlyn nodded, seeing how much they'd done with just the single word of power. Then she asked, "If we can do so much with just that word, why have other wording at all?"

"Because," Erk replied, "it keeps the spell straight. Doesn't let it do something else. If you lose concentration on exactly what you want the spell to do, there are less serious consequences. Plus," he added, "The words do seem to add some power into the spells."

Kaitlyn nodded. It seemed to make sense. "So when can I learn to start speaking?"

Erk smiled cruelly. "When you're ready. I'm thinking another one or two days." Kaitlyn groaned at this. "We better get back to camp. Lead the way," he said politely, hand outstretched. Kaitlyn nodded and started to walk back towards camp. But then she heard him in her head.

~_Having some fun with magic?~_

_Sure. Fun. If that's what you want to call it._

_~Why wouldn't it be fun? Fire IS fun. Someone else that I know said that one, and I must agree, even if he takes it a bit... overboard sometimes.~_

_Do you know everyone?_

_~...no...~_

_Was that sarcasm?_

_~...no...~_

* * *

As Kaitlyn started to walk back to camp, Erk just stopped and watched her walk away. She was too preoccupied to notice. _She has that much control of magic, and she's barely been trained. What is she? _He thought to himself, before walking after her.

* * *

The day continued much like the same, continuing to march towards Araphan, and more reading lessons, even though Kaitlyn had been so sure that she was going to be done with them the day before. However, the lessons didn't go as long as the day before, because Serra cut them off. After the lessons, Kaitlyn decided to talk to Lyn. They chatted for a while, but then Lyn's eyes suddenly turned sad, and she said, "We should... probably talk about Glass."

Kaitlyn stiffened. What was there to talk about? There was nothing that she could do for Glass. She had failed him, and he had died because of it. There was nothing to talk about.

However, when she was about to say this to Lyn, Serra suddenly was beside them and said, "Hey!" to them in a really bright, perky tone. Whatever Kaitlyn was going to say died on her tongue as she and Lyn turned to look at Serra, who was totally oblivious to the serious situation going on.

After she didn't appear to be going away, Lyn responded with a dubious, "Hello...?" Serra didn't seem to notice the tone at all. So Lyn continued, "What's up, Serra?"

Serra shrugged her shoulders. "I'm bored. I wanted to talk to someone other than Erk. I tried to talk to her," she continued, half-pointing at Florina, "But she's doesn't want to talk with Erk around, and I simply can't dismiss him for any longer today. So I thought that I would talk to you guys, seeming as how you were the only other girls in the group."

Kaitlyn smiled at this, "That seems a tad bit sexist, doesn't it?"

Serra shook her head, and Kaitlyn couldn't tell whether she was acting distraught at the thought, or just acting. "It's not that at all," she protested. She then looked around to make sure that no one else was listening, then she leaned in and whispered, "I just want the men here to think that I'm all mysterious, making me an item of attention."

Lyn and Kaitlyn stared for a moment, then burst out laughing. They continued to laugh, no matter how many times Serra asked them what was so funny. When they finally stopped laughing, Kaitlyn said to her, "Alright let me give you a tour of the men in our band of weirdoes."

She at first pointed to Kent, "Alright, him over there, is Kent, and he thinks that flirting should be done in private times, not while on duty, as he feels he will be until he gets Lyn back to her grandfather. His companion on the other hand, Sain," she continued, pointing at the green cavalier, "Seems to think that if something wears a skirt it must be hit on." For some reason, this seemed to spark something in Serra's eyes, but Kaitlyn just figured it to be disgust and moved on.

Dorcas was next, "Dorcas over there is only here because he needs money for his wife. Wil over there might be an object of interest, seeing as how he's available, and decent. However, he claims to be looking for a special kind of feeling, so it's maybe, maybe not with him. And finally Glass..." she trailed off, realizing what she had said.

Serra looked at her to continue. "And Glass...?" she prompted.

Kaitlyn looked at Serra with sad eyes. "Glass had someone that he thought was special, and that they would be together forever, no matter what. However, in the end, the other person made mistakes, and he ended up getting killed for them."

Serra looked at her strangely. "Why are you so sad about this Kaitlyn?" she asked, new enough not to know.

Kaitlyn just stared at her with sad eyes. "Because I was the other person," she stated simply, and then walked off, so she wouldn't have to deal with the two of them.

* * *

It was the morning after that before they were staring at the city of Araphan. Lyn and the others starred at it in admiration. "It's so big!" Lyn confessed looking at the city. Kaitlyn couldn't help but agree. The city just seemed to stretch out forever, even though they could see the entire city. It was easily five times the size of any city they had visited before.

Sain was smiling at all of them, glad that they were enjoying his country. "It is big. In fact, it's the second largest city in Lycia, the largest being Ostia." At the mention of the city she was being escorted to, Serra seemed to puff up her chest a bit, unconsciously.

Lyn nodded. "I can see that. It does seem like an awfully big city." She then looked around, and noticed that Kent wasn't with them. "Where's Kent?" she asked Sain.

Sain was still looking at the city, and wasn't really paying attention, but he replied, "He went ahead of us to talk to the marquess." Then he said, "Oh look here he comes now!" And so it was, Kent was riding towards them from the city. He arrived soon after, bearing good news.

"Milady Lyndis," he said as formally as ever, "Let's proceed to the castle. They are preparing supplies there to aid us in our journey."

Kaitlyn looked surprised. "They're helping us?" she asked, shocked that one of the marquess would care enough about her, who had just been the last survivor of her tribe in Sacae just a few weeks before, to give them supplies.

Kent nodded. "Indeed. Caelin and Araphan have had a good, steady relationship for years. I explained to the marquess our situation, and he gladly agreed to help." Then he frowned. "However, it would certainly be great if they could lend us some soldiers. I fear that my skills haven't been enough, milady, and have caused you many hardships."

Lyn gently put her hand on his shoulder. "Kent, it's fine. You are perfectly capable, and you've done a splendid job so far."

What ever Kent was going to say, he was cut off by Sain. "Kent?!" he cried, exasperated, "What about me?"

Lyn smiled at him, as well as most everyone else in the group, "Yes Sain, you've done a splendid job so far too."

Sain smiled and puffed out his chest. "Of course I have!" And anyone who hadn't been smiling did, and there were even a few chuckles.

But then Kent said, "Come, let us depart. The castle awaits us." So they started their march towards the castle, and the aid it was giving them.

They entered the city without any troubles, and they started to move towards the castle. They were nearly there, when a man came running by, yelling something about the castle. Sain stopped him before he could pass them. "What are you saying, sir?"

The man looked at them with fear in his eyes. "The castle. Burning. Smoke pouring out. What were those strange men doing?" he appeared to have lost all sense, probably from shock. But then he turned and ran.

The group just looked at each other, then took off full speed towards the direction of the castle.

* * *

When they finally arrived, there was indeed smoke coming out of the castle. But Lyn hadn't taken a single step forward before a hooded figure appeared from seemingly nowhere. "You there! You're Lyndis, correct?"

Lyndis nodded, hesitantly

This is all that the man was waiting for. "Good. Now prepare yourself!" he yelled. He then ran at Lyn faster than probably should have been possible. Lyn, fast herself, was drawing her blade in defense by the time that he was halfway to her.

However, right then, an arrow came out of nowhere and flew right at the assassin. It struck him in one ear, pierced out the other, where it hit a tree trunk, bringing the body with it. Lyn stared at the body, wondering how someone made such a shot, but Kaitlyn already wasn't taking any precautions, and ordered Wil and Erk to be prepared to attack the area from where the arrow came from.

From the trees, a man rode up. He looked like a nomad, riding a horse and with a bow in his hands. He didn't say anything, just waited there. Kent decided to initiate contact, asking, "What's your name?"

The rider didn't say anything, just kept on looking at Lyn. Then he turned to leave. Before he could, Lyn yelled, "Wait! Why did you just save me?"

The rider stopped, but didn't turn his horse around, only his head. "I thought a Sacaean plainswoman was being attacked. I was mistaken, one which led to your favor. If you'll excuse me." He said rudely, and started to ride again.

Lyn stopped him again, saying, "No, you were right! I am Lyn from Sacae, and my father was the chief of the Lorca tribe!"

This caught the mysterious rider's attention. "Lorca? There were survivors?" Lyn nodded, and he looked at her hard again. He then said, "You should leave. There was a fire started in the castle, and it's spreading quickly. Don't be foolish and waste the life I just saved."

"Wait, you're from the castle?" she asked quickly, before he tried to escape again. When he nodded, she continued, saying, "What's happening? How bad is the fire? Is the Marquess safe?" The man cut her off by raising his hand.

"The castle is under attack. The marquess has been accosted. This man here," he said, indicating to the dead body "He was probably one of the attackers. As the captain of the guard, it's my job to make save the marquess, and to make sure that no innocents are hurt. Now leave, before you are."

Lyn, however said, "No. We're going to help you." At this, Kent looked at her in surprise, and so did the rider. Lyn explained by saying, "These marauders are after me. If they are attacking the castle, it's because they were going to help me. So, it's my duty to help fix this if I can."

The rider stared at her for a moment longer before saying, "It sounds like you're involved somehow." After a moment's more thought, he simply said, "Let's go," and started to ride, albeit slowly.

The group followed, and got ready to go into battle. As they were traveling, the rider turned towards Lyn and said, "I am Rath of the Kutolah tribe. While we may be from different tribes, I won't abandon a woman of Sacae."

Lyn smiled at him then, "Thank you Rath, and a thousand blessings on you!"

Rath didn't smile back, and replied, "And a thousand curses on our enemy!" He then picked up his riding speed, making the rest of them speed up also.

* * *

Matthew was by the castle when he heard that a battle was going to be breaking out. He smelled potential profits, so he made his way to the castle. When there, he saw the band of ruffians around the castle, and off in the distance he saw the other group, a small band of fighters. Matthew needed more information, so he decided to sneak into one of the nearby houses.

He picked the wrong house. When he got inside, there was a woman standing there, about to go into her cellar. At seeing him, she grabbed her broom, the most convenient weapon at hand, and started to his Matthew, despite his protests. "What are you doing here, in my house?" she shrieked at him, and her blows grew harder.

Matthew could dodge the blows of course, but didn't want to put in the effort. "Peace, woman! Peace! I mean no danger to you or any of your family! You home has a... convenient view of the battle outside! I just want to watch!" When she still attacked him he said, "Damn! Fine, I'll pay you for the privilege! Please!"

This stopped the woman's assault for a second, as she considered. Then she stuck out her tongue in disgust. "Like a vulture you are! Just waiting for the after spoils! Despicable." After another moment of thought, however, and she held out her hand. "Pay up! I'll be hiding downstairs, and you're "watching" had better not disturb me!"

Matthew smiled and gave her a few gold coins. "Wouldn't dream of it." The woman sniffed at him one more time, then she disappeared down below. Matthew heard her bolt it shut behind her as a precaution. Whatever, Matthew didn't really care. He stared out the window, and thought to himself out loud, "Now, which side has the most to offer me?"

* * *

With the castle in sight, Rath explained to them, "Once we have a secure way into the castle, my men can move in. We should probably use the secret passageway."

Lyn looked at Rath in surprise. "A secret passage way? Really?"

Rath smiled at her. "What? You think that the castle would be left without any defenses? The passage I'm referring to is an underground tunnel. It reads directly to the throne room. Unfortunately," he continued, "The triggers are in those barracks. However, they were invaded by the enemy, and they locked the doors. So not only will we need to unlock the door, but we'll also need to take out the enemy inside."

Kaitlyn nodded, understanding. "So we need to break into the barracks, flip the switches, which will open the secret passage. We travel through the passage to the throne room, and rescue the marquess, and then you and your men can clear out the castle."

Rath nodded. "It'll be hard, but we might-," he got cut off by Kaitlyn raising her hand.

"We'll take care of it," she simply said. She then turned towards the others. "Right, so while we don't necessarily need to take out all of the enemies ourselves, we do need to take the ones who have the keys to the barracks. Wil, you have the best eyes of us, see if you can spy out if any are openly carrying keys." Wil nodded and ran a little further, so that he might get a better view.

After Kaitlyn did another quick survey of the area, she spotted some houses. "Lyn, go check out those houses. The residents there may have some information on our enemy." Lyn nodded and ran off towards the houses.

Right then, Wil returned. "I did a quick scan of the enemies, but I didn't see any keys openly displayed on their persons. We'll either have to get closer, or just guess and go."

Kaitlyn nodded, and then turned towards the others. She then smiled and said, "Let's do what we do best." The others laughed, and together they charged towards the battle.

* * *

None of the houses so far had been of any use. All of the residents had either been hiding in their basements or too weary of her to let her in. Still, it was worth trying all of them, you never know when something might come through.

She was at one of the last houses. She knocked lightly, so as not to seem too aggressive or anything like that. A few seconds after she knocked, the peephole in the door opened enough for her to see a brown eye and a mess of hair staring back at her. When he saw her he smiled, and said, "Oh good, I was hoping you were the one to come. Come on in!" And she heard the door unlock.

She walked in, and saw the face she had seen sitting comfortably with his feet up on the table, despite the fact that there was some food on it. He wore a red cloak, and a light green shirt. He wore white pants and from his belt wore a knife and a set of picks. A thief then.

He was still smiling when she walked in, and he said, "Hey, I have an offer for you that I think you'll be interested in!"

She looked back at him. "Who are you?" she asked, not wanting to know about his offer just yet.

He mock bowed while sitting saying, "I'm Matthew, a specialist in the acquisition of anything and everything, at your service! Now, would you like to purchase my services?"

She looked back at him coldly. "I have no need for a thief."

He cringed at the name. "I'm not a thief! I'm a master in acquisition of items!" Then he grinned at her again. "And without a thief, how do you plan to open the barrack doors?" Lyn's face must have given away their need to open the doors, so Matthew made like he had a bow in his hands, and released an imaginary arrow. "Bullseye," he said.

Lyn stopped his celebrating though. "How do you know about our need to get into the barracks?"

Matthew explained with his ever-present grin on his face. "Two reasons how I know about your need to get into the barracks. One," he said, holding up a finger, "It's my job to know about the inner workings of castles and mansions and the such. So I know about the secret passage into the throne room. Second," he continued, putting up another finger, "it's pretty obvious when not one, but two separate people in your group point to each of the barracks."

When Lyn couldn't say anything in response, Matthew made another imaginary bow and did another one of his "bullseye" bits. Then he said, "Oh, don't be mad that I'm a little observant and I don't have brains of a child. Hire me! I'll get those doors open in no time!" He then put his hand to his chin in mock thought. Then he said, "You know what, since I like you and your guts for trying such a plan, I'll even lower my normal rates!"

Lyn sighed. "And so that if we ever need a thief again, we know who to find." While Matthew didn't say anything, he put up his hands as if to say, "Well, you know how things go." Lyn considered, and then said, "I do need to open those doors, and it would be easier this way then to find the keys. You're hired."

Matthew raised his fist in celebration, but then Lyn asked, "So why us? Why didn't you go with the other side?"

Matthew's grin grew even wider as he said, "Well for one thing, you guys just look like a barrel of laughs. Second, it was better than that," he said, pointing his thumb out the window. Lyn looked and she saw what he meant.

* * *

They were advancing towards the first barrack quickly. Any enemy that got in their way was quickly dealt with, and then searched to see if they had a key. In the middle of the group, was Kaitlyn, calling out shots to everyone else and warning them of attacks. As Lyn watched, she saw an archer loose an arrow which flew towards Serra, who was also near the middle of the group, healing any injuries the group took. Kaitlyn just said something, and immediately Erk used a fire spell, and burnt the arrow up mid-air.

Lyn smiled and shook her head. When she turned back towards Matthew, she said, "I see what you mean."

They were quickly approaching the first barrack, and luckily they had just found a key. They continued their march towards the barrack, when Wil shouted, "Hey, there's Lyn coming out of a house! And she has someone with her!" Kaitlyn looked where Wil was indicating, and saw Lyn and her mysterious companion running towards them.

Kaitlyn made an executive decision that they barrack could wait. "Move towards Lyn! Keep the enemies off her at all costs!" So they marched towards Lyn, and on their way, they found killed the man guarding the second key. As Kaitlyn grabbed it, Lyn and the man with her made it to the group.

Lyn quickly made her way towards Kaitlin. "I didn't find out anything about the enemy, I did find someone who will make our job easier." She then pointed towards the man who had come with her. He was awkwardly standing outside of the group, not feeling very comfortable just strolling in among the midst of them.

At the mention of his name however, he waved saying, "Hi, my name is Matthew. I've been hired to help you open the doors." At the last part, he motioned towards the lock picks on his belt.

Kaitlyn nodded at him. With him here, he saved them the trouble of finding the final key. "Alright everyone, let's protect Matthew here while he opens the doors."

At this, Matthew snorted. "While I thank you for the offer, I'm fast enough to dodge anything those imbeciles-,"

He was cut off abruptly by the sound of galloping hooves, and he turned around to see a cavalier charging him, spear ready to pierce through him. However, before the cavalier could spear him, Dorcas ran forward and chopped at the spear, cutting it in half. After Dorcas was clear, both Rath and Wil let arrows loose, Wil's piercing the man's heart and Rath's catching the rider between the eyes. The rider dropped dead instantly, and with no rider to compel it forward, the horse came to a stop. Right before it trampled Matthew.

Matthew turned back towards the group, his smile gone. But only for a second, because then it was back saying, "I'm here for twenty seconds and you guys are already making me eat my words." He chuckled, and then said, "I knew you guys were going to be fun."

Kaitlyn only smiled, and then handed him their two keys. She then turned back towards the group. "Like I was saying, we'll protect Matthew here while he opens the doors." They then turned and started making their way back towards the barracks.

They had already taken care of most of the enemies on the way there, so they reached the barracks without too much resistance. When they got there, they moved slower and quieter, as to not alert the enemies inside that they had arrived. Even though they had almost defiantly heard them fighting outside, there was no point in alerting them when they had arrived.

As they got to the door, Kaitlyn whispered softly to the group, "Erk, you take care of the first attack. Rath and Wil, you guys take out any survivors." The group nodded and turned towards Matthew. He made his way towards the door. He put in the key slowly and silently, and did the same turning it. He then turned towards them, and waited for confirmation. Kaitlyn nodded towards them, and he quickly turned the latch and threw the door open.

Immediately, Erk launched a fireball into the barracks. The was a small explosion as it hit the ground, and a large amount of smoke came out. Out came a single guard coughing. Rath quickly shot him with an arrow. When the smoke finally cleared, the guardhouse was empty. Rath then got off of his horse and made his way into it. He then moved towards the desk and opened a drawer. He then removed a fake back, and stuck his hand inside. After a moment of fiddling around, they all heard an audible click.

Rath then put everything back, and got on his horse. They then rode towards the next barrack, and followed the same procedure. This time, the switch was hidden in a fake floor plank. They made their way to the last barrack. This time, the enemies had a pretty good idea to steer clear, and they retreated into the castle.

This time, opening the door took longer, because Matthew had to pick the lock instead of just turning a key. All of their hearts were beating in their chests as they waited for him to pick the lock. He turned towards them and assured them that he was nearly done. He then turned back, and after another couple of seconds, he then turned towards them and whispered, "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you pick a lock silently." He then turned the lock, which proceeded to make the highest shrieking sound known to man. Everybody cringed, and they heard shuffling inside. They had alerted all of the enemies inside, along with probably everyone on the continent.

The door flew open, hitting Matthew in the head. He hit the ground and put his hands to his head. The man who opened the door immediately saw everyone outside, and yelled, "Hey, we got us some visitors!" And he withdrew to grab a weapon.

Everyone prepared their weapons, but in the end it wasn't needed, because while all of the enemies were still in the barrack, Erk launched a fireball inside, killing everyone inside anyway. Everyone let out a audible sigh. Then Matthew groaned and got up, and Kaitlyn looked at him. "I thought you said you were a professional?" she teased.

He glared back at them. "How was I supposed to know that the lock was rusty! If anyone, mister head guard should have known it was rusty!"

All eyes turned towards Rath. He shrugged and said, "I don't remember it being THAT loud." Before anyone could say anything back, he went into the barracks. He then went to the bookshelf. He pulled at it, and it slid open on hidden wheels. Behind was the final switch. He flipped it, and then they heard a grinding sound. Slowly, in the center of the room, the stones fell down into a stairway.

Rath nodded, and they all started down the stairs. They were in the passage to the throne room. It was dark, so Erk used a fire spell to hover around them, giving them light. The passage way was damp and narrow, and obviously hadn't been used in sometime.

They were proceeding down it when something caught Matthew's attention. "If my eyes don't deceive me, that's a chest I see!" and he ran forward towards the spot in the wall which held the chest. He then looked towards Kaitlyn, and there was a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Say, Kaitlyn. Seeing how we've come… all this way, and gone through all this trouble, maybe we could just…"

She stared at him coldly. She stared him in the eye and said, "No," as frostily as a blizzard.

Matthew sighed. "Don't be such a party pooper! If we want to win, we have to use every means that we can. And people don't just lock up ordinary things in secret passages!" When he still saw the cold glint in her eye, he changed tactics. He threw his hands up in mock surrender. "Alright, alright, I know that stealing is wrong! Trust me I do! So we're not going to be stealing this! We're going to be saving the marquess right? So we can consider this… a advance on our reward!" Then he leaned in closer, "Plus, in a secret passage like this, there has to be something that could be useful in protecting the marquess."

Kaitlyn stared at him closely for another couple of seconds, then he looked over his shoulder at Lyn. "Go on ahead. The more time we waste here, the more time the marquess is in danger. I'll sort him out." Lyn nodded, and motioned for the rest of them to follow.

Kaitlyn waited until the rest of them were out of sight before she rushed forward towards Matthew. "Ok, do it!"

Matthew looked downright gleeful. "You changed your mind! Huzzah!" He then ran towards the treasure chest and fumbled with his picks as he started to open the chest. While he was working he kept on singing, "Treasure time, treasure time, open some treasure and see what's inside!" Then she heard the final pin click, and Matthew turned the lock. He turned towards her and said, "That, Kaitlyn my devious friend, is what we call a well oiled lock."

She moved forwards, eager to see what was in the chest also. As Matthew opened the chest slowly, a light came spilling out. Both squinted, their eyes adjusted for darkness, but they kept opening the chest. Once it was finally open, the light died away, and they waited for their eyes to adjust again to see what was inside the box.

Inside was a beautiful white and blue robe, which sparkled like a million diamonds. It was unlike anything that Kaitlyn had ever seen before. Matthew on the other hand, seemed to know what it was immediately when he cried out in disbelief and put his hand out to grab it, but then he stopped.

Kaitlyn looked at him. "What is that?"

He didn't look back at her. "That, Kaitlyn, is an angelic robe. It's said to have been blessed by the goddess herself, and weaved by her finest angels. It's also said that whoever wears it shall have a blessing from the goddess, which will help beyond any belief. It's a true treasure, one I never thought I'd see."

Kaitlyn looked at it in disbelief. Was that robe really all that Matthew said it was? If so it was priceless. No doubt someone would put a price on it if they so wished, but no one could ever put a real price on it.

But then she looked at Matthew. At how his eyes were wide with wonder at the robe. He still hadn't grabbed it, much less touch it. He just stared at it in wonder and amazement. She realized that that was better than any gold they could get by selling it. "You can have the robe."

He looked at her with a confused look. "What do you mean, I can have it?"

"Well," she started, "You seem to have gotten a kick out of finding it, to say the least. Plus," she continued, "We do have to pay you sometime. Consider this… an advance on your reward."

Matthew smiled at that, and then looked back towards the robe. It's mine…" he said slowly. He then picked it up. Held it in front of him. Then he undid the holding, and draped it on over himself. He then reconnected it, and waited.

But nothing happened. Matthew laughed bitterly. "Well, I guess that the legends were wrong." He moved to take it off, but right then the robe started to softly glow gold. Matthew stopped, and they both stared at the robe, which was continuing to get brighter. It got to the point where neither one could see. They squinted and held their hands to their face as the glow got even brighter. The whole hallway was filled with white light.

Then it stopped. Both of them put their hands down, and looked at the robe. Or what was left of it. It was slowly disintegrating in a warm golden light. And then it was gone. Matthew and Kaitlyn looked at each other in surprise at what had happened. Kaitlyn held her tongue until she couldn't wait any longer. "So, you feel… different?"

Matthew concentrated, trying to feel a change, but then he gave up. "No not really. My heart feel like it's pumping better though!" Kaitlyn looked at him, and together they shook their heads, not understanding. They were about to make their way back to the group, when something else in the chest caught Kaitlyn attention. She looked, and pulled the object out.

It was a sword. A giant one. On the blade, there was some description in red that she couldn't read. Then the end of the sword, instead of coming together to a point, curved out, and then curved back towards each other, making a half-circle. An armorslayer sword.

Matthew whistled. "Two treasures in one chest. Don't see that every day! Trust me, I know!" Kaitlyn smiled at that, and they turned and started making their way back towards the group, sword in tow.

* * *

They had done it. They had reached the end of the tunnel. The throne room was right in front of them. Lyn put her hand towards the door, knowing that the marquess was on the other side. But then she turned back towards Rath. "No. We won't go in there until Kaitlyn and Matthew get back!" she hissed at him.

Rath was glaring at her. "The more time we spend here, the more likely that the marquess will be killed. We need to get in there! Doesn't matter if we have a girl who can't fight and a thief who's pretty much the same!"

Lyn looked at Kent for advice. "Kent, you agree right? We should wait for Kaitlyn to get here."

Kent looked pained, but shrugged his shoulders. "Not every battle ever won had Kaitlyn by their side. I agree with Rath. We should go and save the marquess as soon as possible."

Lyn knew when she was defeated. She put her head down in shame. "Alright. Let's get on with it." Everyone drew their weapons and had them at the ready. She put her hand to the door and pushed it quickly open. Once open, everyone rushed inside the throne room.

Nothing, however, could have prepared them for what they were going to see. The room was full of enemies, armed and ready for them. A man was bound and lying at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the throne. And on the throne, a man sat, dressed heavily in armor. When he saw them all, he smiled. "Ah. Good. You made it. I wasn't sure you were going to. Lyndis' Legion, in the flesh."

Lyn was staring at the number of enemies. She then turned towards the man. "And who might you be?"

The man smiled at her in the way that a snake might smile at his prey. "Why, I'm general Bool, at your service. Oops, sorry, no I'm not. Actually, I'm at your uncle's," he corrected with his predatory smile. He then raised his hand, and the enemies all got into fighting positions.

Lyn circled around, trying to think of some way to defeat the enemies, but not thinking of anything. "This is why we wait for Kaitlyn!" she yelled to Rath, who merely grunted. Lyn tried one last desperate time to think of something, before she fell back into a default fighting stance and holding out until Kaitlyn got there. "Erk, Serra, and Wil, gather together! Everyone else, form around them! I've got the marquess!"

She ran and grabbed the unconscious man. Bool didn't care. He was enjoying this far too much to care. The marquess would soon be dead anyway. Lyn dragged him back to the others, and then threw him over the back of Rath's horse. She then quickly took some rope the nomad was carrying and securely tied him to the horse. She then drew her sword, and got into a fighting position.

Bool still had his hand raised. "Any last words that you want me to tell your uncle?" he asked.

She smirked at him, then said, "I do, but I'll just tell him myself. After I apologize for your death, of course."

Bool's face lost its smile. "Funny," he said, "I won't have to apologize for yours." His hand dropped, and the enemies yelled and charged at them. The leader of the charge didn't take five steps before he found an arrow in his neck. Same happened for the next person. Then there were fireballs flying along with the arrows. Twelve were dead by the time the attackers reached Lyn.

Lyn didn't give them much time to attack though. She quickly disposed of the first person. Then she moved at her fastest. They didn't stand a chance, and five died immediately. Dorcas quickly ran over and helped her fight back to the rest of the group. They then did their best to fight the enemies off. But they were going to be overwhelmed quickly at the rate they were fighting. _Kaitlyn,_ Lyn thought, _Hurry._

* * *

Kaitlyn and Matthew had gotten lost. While she thought it was impossible to get lost on a passageway to the throne room, it apparently was. There had been forks in the road, and they had obviously made some wrong choices. Kaitlyn cursed who ever had built this tunnel. _If it's a rescue tunnel, _she thought, _then don't have it branch off into all these dead ends!_

She supposed that it was supposed to keep any enemies who discovered the passage from having direct passage to the throne room. Still, she wasn't an enemy and she was lost, so it had to be counter-productive. Another fork came up, and they decided to take the one that seemed to be more used.

They continued to walk along, when they heard the sounds of fighting. They glanced at each other, then raced towards the sound. They followed it down a couple more passages. However, when the sound was at its loudest, they were at a dead end. There was a wall, and what looked like a giant pillar. Kaitlyn cried out in frustration and kicked a nearby rock. "Damn! We're so close! We'd have to backtrack, and even then we might not be able to find our way there!"

Matthew had his ear to the wall and was tapping it to see if there was some trick to making a door open. Kaitlyn went to go help, just in case there was a switch. However, right when she started, she heard Gaige.

~_Cut the gum holding the pillar.~_

_What?_

_~The pillar isn't standing on its own! There's gum attaching it to the wall. It's also very weak with age, so if you cut it…~_

_Then down goes the pillar!_

_~Exactly. You're welcome in advance.~_

_Who says I'm going to say thank you?_

_~Ouch. That would be harsh. I think I might go cry in a corner because you didn't say sorry. I'm so hurt that my heart is going to break. I can see that you're not committed to this relationship! I know where this is going!~_

_Sarcastic much?_

_~It's a gift~_

Kaitlyn smiled as she examined the pillar. Gaige was right, there was some gum there and it was looking pretty weak. She drew her knife and tested to see how easy it would be to cut. Her knife slipped in and out with minimal pressure.

Matthew saw what she was doing. "What the heck are you thinking?"

Kaitlyn grinned. "Something crazy." She explained "her" plan. After Matthew heard it all, he nodded. "It'll be worth a try!" he said, and pulled out his own knife. Together, they started cutting the gum. The more they cut, the more the pillar in front of them started shaking. However, by the time they had cut all the gum they could reach, the pillar still stood.

So they had Kaitlyn stand on Matthew's shoulders. She glared down at him. "Don't look up," she instructed, blushing.

He looked up anyway. "Why? You're wearing pants!"

She hit his head with her foot. "Because it's impolite! Now eyes forward!" He chuckled and dropped his eyes forward. She quickly cut all of the gum she could reach on one side. "Ok, now move over!" Matthew grunted and started to side-shuffle over to the other side.

However, when they were about a fourth of the way to the other side when there was a creaking noise. They both looked up to see that the pillar was rotating. They both cried out and tried to push away from the column, but it was too late. The pillar spun, ripping the rest of the gum from the walls, and it fell forward into the throne room.

* * *

Lyn was desperately fighting. No one had been lost yet, but they were wearing down. And after all of their work, there was still about fifteen or so men left. And they seemed to be enjoying taking their time, trying to get them as tired as possible before going for the kill. Lyn knew that if something didn't happen soon, then that's exactly what would happen. _Please, Saint Elimine, let Kaitlyn come to us. We can't win this fight without her._

She waited for something, but nothing happened. Kaitlyn didn't magically appear, they didn't have all their strength back, and the enemies didn't all suddenly die of heart murmur. Nothing. _Damn, I ask you to help after a lifetime of worship, and this is what happens? Well you know what, you can-_

Wait, was that a rumbling sound. Lyn looked up, and saw the pillar across from her start to rotate. "Clear!" she shouted as she dove out of the way. The others did the same, although some of the marauders also got the message and leapt out of harm's way.

But then the pillar fell, and it crushed three of the marauders under it. Dust flew up everywhere, and everyone started coughing and trying to keep dust out of their eyes. The dust slowly started to clear, and everyone's eyes looked to see what caused the commotion. The dust finally cleared enough to reveal a figure in the dust. Kaitlyn, sitting on the pillar, rubbing dust our of her eye with one hand and rubbing her back with the other. "Ow, that hurt," she complained. Then she saw Lyn and the others, and ran over to them. "I'm hope I'm not too late!" she said grinning.

Lyn grinned too. "You're lucky, you're right in time to see us finish off these last guys and then general Bool over there!" Then she frowned, "Hey, where's Matthew? He was with you, wasn't he?"

Kaitlyn nodded and pointed to the hole they had just made. But when she looked herself, Matthew wasn't there. "He was just there," she said, trying to see where he could have scrambled off to. He was nowhere to be found.  
Lyn shook her head. "It doesn't matter. He wasn't going to be any good in a fight anyway. Now, any ideas on how to defeat these last few punks?"

Kaitlyn looked at them, then nodded. "Ok, here's the plan. Dorcas and Lyn, go and take out those three over there. Kent and Sain, guard Erk, Serra, Wil, and me. Also, Kent, give Florina your javelin. Florina, fly as high as you can, and then chuck the javelin at unsuspecting idiots, then swoop down and it up again. Rath, ride around, take shots when you can, but stay safe. Erk and Wil, take out anybody who's getting close to hitting any one of us. Serra, if someone does get hit, then heal them. Go." Everyone nodded and went out to do their jobs.

Even though the enemy heard their plans, they couldn't stop them. Ten of the remaining twelve were dead within the next three minutes, and Lyn and Dorcas were both fighting off the last ones. Dorcas swung at his man, and hit the man's sword so hard it broke. As he was attempting to draw his secondary sword, Dorcas took the flat of his axe, and hit the man's head so hard his neck snapped. One man left, then Bool.

Lyn's man appeared to be fast, faster than most of them. Wil tried to hit him with an arrow, but he dodged both that and Lyn's attack with a single dodge, then almost cut off Lyn's hand. No one tried to interfere, in the case it might distract or even hit Lyn. They could only hold their breath and pray.

Lyn won against him with, as it turned out, sheer dumb luck. He was forcing her to back up rapidly. So rapidly, that neither one of them managed to see the rock behind Lyn. She tripped over the rock, and threw her hands out to try and save herself. However, it was for naught, as she started to fall backwards anyway. However, as she fell, her sword managed to cut the man across his chest and up his neck. They could see the surprise in his eyes as he fell to the ground dead.

Lyn got up groaning but fine. Then they heard clapping. Everybody turned to see Bool slow-clapping for them. "That was truly well done! A feat of tactical strength, especially that last part, truly well done." Then he stopped, and he had his snake smile again. "Too bad I'm in a completely different league from those incompetent fools."

He then stood up from the throne. He put on his helmet, so that none of his face could be seen. He then picked up his lance. It was more heavy duty than iron or steel. So silver then. Superb. A strong weapon to go with that ridiculous amount of armor. He then raised a hand in challenge to them. "Try your worst!" he declared, his voice echoing and inside his armor.

Before anyone could say anything, Lyn dashed forward and quickly struck Bool in the chest three times, then jumped back before he could counter. Her attacks had barely even left a scratch.

Dorcas tried next. He swung his axe at Bool right were Kaitlyn had attacked and left a small dent. He then had to dodge out of the way before Bool caught him with his lance. The rest of the company tried everything that they could to take him down, but no one seemed to make a bigger dent than Dorcas did with his strike.

However, Erk then heated up his armor, which got the best result yet, with Bool crying out as his armor started to heat up. However, he dashed forward faster than anyone should have been able wearing his armor and quickly hit Erk with the butt of his spear. Erk crumpled to the ground, his head bleeding. Serra and Kaitlyn both cried out and quickly dragged him away before any more damage could be done, and Serra started healing Erk.

Bool laughed. "Well, that's all you could do. Somewhat pathetic. Now, Lyn, what were those last words that you wanted to say to your uncle?" Lyn bit her lip and moved to a fighting position. Bool laughed some more. "Very well. At your final moments, you were on your knees in your companion's blood and gore, begging to be saved. However, when I agreed and started to walk away, you pulled a knife on me and tried to stab me. I, however, knocked it out of your hands, and then killed you as slowly and painfully as possible. That should please Lord Lundgren very well."

Then a voice came from behind him. "Well, that was harsh. And descriptive too!" Bool turned around to see where the voice was coming from. It was Matthew, lounging on the throne. "Hey! Glad to see that you finally noticed me! Anyway, I'm just going to say that it's about… well fifteen times more likely that your guts are going to be on the floor before any of ours are. Especially mine!"

They could hear Bool clack his tongue at Matthew in distaste. "Well then," he said, "We'll just have to make yours the first to spill!" He then charged at Matthew spear lowered straight at him. However, when the lance was about to hit him, Matthew dodged it, and it stuck into the throne. When Bool tried to pull it back out, but he couldn't. Matthew then went behind the throne, and when he re-appeared, he was holding a sword. The armorslayer.

"Well, now this has been fun general, but I'm afraid the party must stop here." Before Bool could get away, Matthew stuck him in the chest with the armorslayer, which slid in like butter. The writing on the sword then glowed with power. Then, there was an explosion, and Bool went flying backwards. Matthew then grinned as Bool hit a pillar. "Magic swords are fun!" he exclaimed.

He then walked over to Lyn, handing her the sword. "You take it, I don't go into brawls. You'll have more use for it then I will." Lyn nodded, taking the sword. Then they heard a groan. They all looked over to see Bool lying against the pillar that he hit. Where Matthew had hit his armor, there was a huge hole, and his helmet had flown off on impact. He had blood streaming down his face from multiple cuts.

Lyn approached him sword in hand. When he finally focused enough to see her, he threw himself on his knees. "Please," he begged, "Please don't kill me."

Lyn looked at the armor slayer. One more hit would finish him off. However, Lyn didn't raise her blade. Instead she stared at him, until she said suddenly, "I'll let you live." He immediately started to thank her, but she silenced him by raising her hand. "I'm letting you live so that you can report to my uncle that we are stronger than he could ever dream, and if he wants to keep me from my grandfather, he'd better be prepared to send the entire continent to stop me." Bool nodded, anything as long as he didn't die.

Lyn turned away from him, facing her companions. "Alright, let's get the marquess awake." They started to untie him, as Bool silently hunched along, saying, "Lord Lundgren, I'm sorry."

* * *

Three hours later, after the marquess had been awoken, and the throne room had been cleaned up. Lyn and Kaitlyn were invited to talk to the marquess. When they got to the throne room, they found Rath outside, waiting as well. They didn't have time to talk, because as soon as they arrived, a man opened the doors and said, "Marquess Araphan will see you now."

With the doorman leading the way, the three of them followed him into the throne hall. There was still very obvious destruction, such as the dent in the ground where Kaitlyn's pillar had fallen, or the damage done to the other pillar where Bool had hit it. They couldn't see where the spear had gotten stuck in the throne, however, because the Marquess was sitting on it.

Once they had reached the bottom of the steps, they all kneeled to him. He grunted his approval and bade them to rise. When they were all standing once more, he turned towards Rath and said, "Spectacular job today Rath. I understand that you, with the help of these mercenaries, were able to defeat the enemy and rescue me."

Rath shook his head. "No sir. It was closer to me helping these band of mercenaries save you."

The marquess turned to look at them. "Really? And pray, what are your names?"

Lyn spoke for them. "My name is Lyndis, and this is my tactician, Kaitlyn."

The marquess raised an eyebrow. "Really? How peculiar. Lyndis… oh! You're Marquess Caelin's…" he turned to Rath. "I would like to speak to them in private. Leave us."

Rath bowed his head and left the room via the side door. The marquess waited until he was gone before he continued. "Now, Lyndis. Do you know who's responsible for this attack on my castle?"

Lyn nodded. "The enemy commander himself claimed to have been sent by my uncle, Lord Lundgren."

The marquess nodded. "Exactly. Which means that my castle was damaged, my soldiers died, and I was assaulted over your petty inheritance war!"

Lyn flushed. "My apologies sir."

"That's right you're sorry." He pinched his nose in between his fingers. "When I had heard that Lady Madelyn's daughter was in need of assistance, I was inclined to offer some. Reflecting, I now find that I've changed my mind. I will not offer you any assistance."

Kaitlyn spoke up now, trying her best not to yell in his face. "But, sir, you gave our knight Kent you word!"

The marquess glared at her. "Yes I did. However, your knight left out a critical detail!"

Kaitlyn looked at Lyn, but she looked just as confused. "And what detail would that be, sir?" Kaitlyn asked.

The marquess sat back in his throne. "While the girl does resemble Lady Madelyn, I didn't expect her to be so… contaminated… with the blood of Sacae."

Lyn's eyes flew open in shock. "What?!"

"I feel that it would only bring Marquess Caelin trouble to bring him this… nomad mongrel!"

Kaitlyn started to charge up the stairs to promptly hit the marquess upside the head, before Lyn pulled her down the stairs. Marquess Araphan sniffed in displeasure. "Your lackey is in need of some lessons in discipline."

Lyn bowed, "My apologies, sir, but could you please reconsider bestowing us your aid."

"I hear that Marquess Caelin is horribly ill and isn't expected to last another month. In which case, his brother, Lord Lundgren will take over. I will avoid trouble with the next marquess."

Kaitlyn resisted against Lyn's grasp, trying to break free. "He was the one that just attacked you, you scheming little piece of-"

Lyn put her hand across Kaitlyn's mouth to keep her from speaking further. "I understand. My company and I shall be leaving directly." She turned around and started to walk out of the throne room.

Kaitlyn quickly caught up, and said, "Why are we leaving? He promised us support!"

Lyn stopped and said loud enough for anyone in the hall to hear. "I am proud of the blood that is in my veins. I will not accept anyone who looks down on me because of that." She then proceeded to walk out of the throne hall.

The marquess waited until they left, then said to himself, "Bah! Stupid girl! If she had even shed a single tear I would have given her my assistance! We of the higher crust will never understand those prideful Sacraen savages!"

Beside him, a voice said, "Are those feelings truly how you feel about the nomads of Sacae?"

The marquess jumped, and turned to see Rath standing beside him. "Rath! I did not hear you come in. My comments do not reflect on you in any way. You are my captain, and I'm proud of your service."

Rath's face didn't change as he said, "So as long as we bow our knee to you we are fine? But one of Sacae who's equal to you? It's surely unthinkable."

The marquess slapped him. "How dare you speak to me like that! After all that I've done for you! I have paid you well, and treated you the same! Much better than your kind deserves."

Rath didn't do anything back, although he was very obviously holding himself back. Then he looked at Marquess Araphan and said coldly, "You'll never understand. My service ends here." He then walked out of the throne hall, despite the marquess' repeated attempts to call him back.

* * *

"So that's what the situation is," Lyn finished. The rest of the group stared back in awkward silence. None of them knew what to say.

Then Sain spoke up. "That was well done, milady! The marquess was a lout if that's how he thinks!"

Kent however, gripped his sword tightly. "I'm sorry, milady."

Lyn looked at him in confusion. "What are you apologizing for Kent?"

Kent bowed his head. "If I had disclosed the fact that you were from Sacae, then we could have saved us much pain."

Lyn put her hand on his shoulder. "Kent. It's fine. You've been putting my well-being as your top priority. You just wanted to help. Hold your head up Kent, and be proud of what you've done."

Kent raised his head, then nodded his thanks. "Alright, the one useful thing that the marquess did tell us was that my grandfather is ill. We must hurry to him." They all nodded, and were preparing to continue their march, when they heard the sound of hooves. They turned around to see Rath saunter up on his horse. When he saw them, he jumped off and ran to Lyn, taking her hands.

"Lyn, proud daughter of Sacae. If you would take me, I would like to add my strength to yours."

Lyn didn't know what to say. Sain, however, leaned over to Kaitlyn and whispered, "I think that this is the most dramatic way anyone's ever entered our group. It's sounds like a proposal to me." Kaitlyn snickered, and they secretly high-fived.

However, then Lyn spoke up. "We would be honored to have you with us."

Rath nodded his thanks and got up. He then went to his horse and grabbed a bag attached to his saddle. "Also, I want you to have this."

Lyn took the bag, then slowly looked inside. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Rath, I can't except this. It's simply too much."

Rath shrugged his shoulders. "That's too bad. Because once I offer something, I can't take it back."

Lyn looked at him, then looked at the gold again, and then back to him. "Well, if you're so insistent on it, then thank you Rath. It's appreciated."

Rath nodded, then got on his horse, ready to travel. Everyone else was also ready, so they continued their march towards Caelin. However, just a minute or so after they started, Sain pulled his horse beside Kaitlyn and whispered, "I think that she said yes." This time Kaitlyn laughed out loud, and they high-fived again, much to the confusion of everyone else.

* * *

**A/N: Hey everybody! Sorry I'm late with this by… two weeks? To be fair though, I was traveling on the first one, and visiting grandparents the second one, so I was having troubles keeping up. However, to counter-that, this is the longest chapter yet! So to make up two (maybe three, depending on my beta-reader) weeks of nothing, have a 15,000 word chapter. I'm sorry if you found it boring at some parts, but there's not much I can do about that, I can assure you that most of that was either canon or somewhat important to later story line. Anyway, putting that aside, next chapter is it. Next chapter is the intro to Cormag Ravenstaff! If any of you haven't read The Swordmaster, it's the story that this fic is based off of. It' a self-insert fic, so Cormag Ravenstaff will be joining us even though he's not technically a fire emblem character. He'll be joining us. As another point, yes I know that that is not how it went in the actual game at all. However, I again took some creative licenses and that's what popped out! Sorry if you don't like it, but I thought it would be more interesting that way. Anyway, don't expect anything of this kind of caliber for a while, because man did this take a while! Anyway, I apologize for being late, please don't stone me! I still don't like the experience! That's all for now, please review, pm me, whatever. I'll see you guys (hopefully not literally for most of you) next time I update.**

**King35763, hiding in case someone does want to stone me**

**It's a strange aberration, this brainstorm of youth. Though it's lost in translation from fancy to truth. It's hopelessly human, both inside and out. A joyous occasion, no reason to doubt. It's easy somehow, what once was elusive is calling me now! –Hopelessly Human, by Kansas**


	10. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem. Nor do I own Cormag. Nor do I own my main character, Kaitlyn… wow that's really sad…**

* * *

**A/N: Right, quickly, if for whatever reason you're skipping to this chapter without reading the previous ones, I would recommend actually reading the previous chapters (as a hint in case you've never read a book before) or if you are just skipping to a random chapter to see if you like the writing style (because apparently that's a thing). Also, if you've been skipping my author's notes that I leave at the bottom, you may be confused as to what's coming up, so I would go check there if you're confused about who Cormag Ravenstaff is. Onwards to the chapter!**

* * *

The young boy stumbled through the town, calling out to anyone who would listen. "Please! Somebody… somebody, please help me!"

A man stuck his head out from his nearby house. "That's enough! Get out now! We don't want your trouble!"

The little boy looked at him with confusion in his eyes. "But, sir, why are you like this now? You were so kind to us yesterday…"

The man's face paled a little bit, before he came back with his full strength. "I thought that you were just two innocent kids! A couple of nice traveling performers! However, if you have men chasing after you, then you must be trouble! Now get up and get out of town! You're a plague on decent folks!"

The boy tried to speak, but all that came out was, "But…" He then hung his head in shame and nodded. He then walked slowly out of the town.

The man watched him go, and then sighed with relief. "Whew… what a mess that was." He then pulled his head back inside.

However, when he did, a man dressed in a monk's robes stepped out from the side of the house, and stared towards where they bard-boy had gone. He didn't say anything, just made a sound that indicated he was thinking. He then looked a bit harder and saw the young boy moving towards a group of travelers. He looked a bit longer, and then started to make his way towards them.

* * *

It had been four days since their last battle, and they had finally reached the next town. Lyn looked at it, and then asked Lyn where they were. Kent replied, "This is Kathelet. If we head to the south, we'll pass into Caelin."

Sain also added in, "From here, I'd guess that we're about… ten days march to Castle Caelin. Assuming, of course that we don't run into any delays along the way."

Lyn turned towards him and smiled. "And when have we been known for not running into delays?" Kaitlyn giggled quietly. But then Lyn looked forward with a weird look in her eyes. "Ten days…" she muttered to herself.

When she said that, Kaitlyn also looked ahead. She saw a small figure moving towards them. As it approached even further, they could see that it was a boy, and by the looks of his clothes, he was a traveler. When he saw them, he immediately ran towards them. When he got there, he stopped before Lyn. He paused and then bowed his head and said, "Pardon me, but…"

Lyn looked at the boy and any suspicions in her eyes instantly melted. "Yes? Can we help you in some way?"

The boy looked at them in wonder. "You and your friends… are you mercenaries?"

Kent spoke up. "And what if we are?" he asked suspiciously. Kaitlyn looked at him, and he was on edge the same way as if a bandit had walked up to them.

The boy didn't seem to notice. "I need your help!" he yelled out.

Kaitlyn could see that Lyn had gotten some of her regular mistrust back. However, Kent still said, "Milady, a word please?" Lyn nodded and turned to talk to him. When she reached him, he moved close to her ear and whispered, "Milady, you must not ever let your guard down. Not even for a child."

Lyn whispered back, "I know. Never trust anyone immediately." Kent nodded and stepped back. Lyn then turned towards the child. "Forgive me, but we're in a hurry. Is there anyone else that you can ask?"

The boy started to get frantic. "There's no time! Ninian's been… my sister. Some men have kidnapped her!"

Sain's ears perked up. "Did you just say that your sister has been kidnapped?"

The boy nodded vigorously, tears brimming in his eyes. "That's right! She was taken by cruel and awful men! I don't know what I'll do without her…" he finished sadly.

Sain cried out, "Milady Lyndis, we must help the boy and his sister!"

Kent grabbed him by his arm. "We can't! We don't have time! If the marquess is as ill as the rumors we've heard, we can't stop! We have to get to Castle Caelin as soon as possible! You said yourself that it would take ten days without delay!"

Lyn then stepped in. "Kent, I… I want to help this child."

Kent looked at her in surprise. She continued, "I'm worried about my grandfather, of course! But I can't stand by while a child has been taken from her home and her brother asks for my aid!"

Kent kept a level gaze as he said, "I see…"

Lyn grabbed his hand, and Kaitlyn couldn't help notice that Sain's cheeks reddened a bit. "I'm sorry Kent, but I have to do this."

Kent shook his head at her. "I am your loyal retainer. You don't need to apologize. You must do as your heart says, milady, that's who you are. I will follow you, no matter where you lead me."

Lyn then hugged him, and said "Thank you." Again Kaitlyn caught some color in Sain's cheeks at the action.

However, he recovered quickly, saying, "Such a noble speech, Kent! Always the true knight, eh? Ah well," he continued, turning towards the boy, "You're in luck, laddie! Let's go and get your sister back."

Kaitlyn arched an eyebrow at him. "Laddie?"

He shrugged. "I tried it out. It didn't work out," he put simply. Kaitlyn grinned and nodded at him.

Lyn rolled her eyes at the both of them. She then moved towards the boy. "Will you lead us to the men who've done this?"

He nodded vigorously. "Yeah," he started, but then his brow furrowed with concern. "They're really tough, so be careful."

Lyn laughed. "Leave it to us. We're pretty strong ourselves, right Kaitlyn?"

Kaitlyn smiled and bowed to him. "The finest "mercenaries" around!"

They then heard an unfamiliar voice laughing. They turned to find an archer and a shaman running towards them, both clothed in black clothes. The archer was the one who was laughing, and he said, "Found you! Let's go, it's back to Nergal with you! Quiet now, wouldn't want the villagers to get too worried now, would we?"

The boy shook his head violently. "No! Let Ninian go!"

The bandit merely shrugged his shoulders. "We aren't supposed to kill you, but we can rough you up!" He then loaded an arrow and fired it at the boy's leg. However, before it got there, it split into two separate pieces and bounced off the boy harmlessly. Lyn, who had cut the arrow, then stepped in front of him.

The bandit blinked, seeming to notice them for the first time. "What? Who do you think that you are?"

Lyn just said, "Let the boy's sister go, and you won't get hurt."

The archer laughed, and then ticked his tongue at them. "Ah, so you want to help him. Terrible shame that is. 'Cause you're going to die for something that don't concern you."

Lyn raised her sword in challenge. "You think so? Do we look so meek to you? Because if we do, you're in for quite the shock. Form up!" she shouted at the group. They were just waiting for the signal, and they all leapt into battle positions around the boy, Kaitlyn, Serra, and Erk. "So I say again. You let his sister go, and you won't get hurt. You don't let her go, you get hurt, and then we'll go get his sister. What's it going to be?"

The archer's eyebrow shot up in surprise. "What a stupid arrogant girl! You're going to regret those words." He turned towards the shaman and said, "Rally the troops!" The shaman nodded and put his hand in the air. Before Erk could try and stop him, he quickly recited an incantation and shot off black magic, which flew into the air, leaving black smoke behind it.

Within moments, reinforcements started arriving from the surrounding areas. Kaitlyn looked around at the gathering enemies and swore. She then said, "Ok everybody, get ready for a defensive battle for now! Wait until my signal for anything else!"

Lyn then slightly turned her head to get Kaitlyn's attention, when she had it, she turned back towards the enemies to watch them while she said, "Despite what we just saw, I think the shaman's in charge. I hear that they're quite the fearsome foes. We will have to be careful." After she said that, a person came running right towards her. She immediately stuck her sword in their throat. "Who are you?"

The person sighed. They appeared to be wearing a long dress, and they had long blonde hair and a certain essence of feminism about them. When they spoke, their voice gave nothing away. "Please forgive me. I didn't mean to startle you at all."

Lyn however, seemed to know what was going on, because her sword dropped down to his chest instead of his throat. "You're clothes… they're religious vestments."

They nodded, saying, "Yes!" "I'm an acolyte of St. Elimine. My name is Lucius."He then continued by saying, "I have business with you all. I was at the inn when this young child came seeking help! The innkeeper was too afraid to get involved. He was… unpleasant towards him."

The boy made a "pffff" noise, and waved his hand. "I wasn't afraid of that old coot! I'm used to being treated like that!"

Anybody who could stare without being attacked looked at him in horror. "That's absolutely awful!"

He dismissed it with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's how I live, no big deal."

Lucius interrupted, saying, "May I lend you my services? I want to be as much help as I can to the boy, even if it's only a little."

Lyn nodded, "Of course, we would be glad to accept your help."

Serra then piped in, "Oh goodie, it's always good to have another girl in the group!"

Lucius looked only slightly offended when he responded, "I'm a monk, not a priestess."

Serra's jaw dropped and she looked at him more closely. When she had finished her examination, she said, "Well, it's not my fault that you keep your hair like that and hold yourself in a womanly way."

He smiled and said "I suppose that is true." He then turned towards Kaitlyn and said, "You're the tactician of the group I presume? I await for your orders."

Kaitlyn quickly reviewed what she remembered about monks. She remembered that they were good against dark magic and decided to give him a small test to see his strength. "Try attacking that shaman over there." It wasn't the leader, because he was safely hidden behind other people, but he would do for a test.

Lucius nodded, and raised his hands and started to chant. A circle of white light appeared in front of his hands and started to rotate. The enemy shaman saw what he was doing and raised his own hands for a counter spell. They both were rapidly chanting, when Lucius finished his incantation. His eyes glowed pure white, and from the circle a streak of pure light shot out and stabbed the shaman in the shoulder.

The shot didn't kill him however, because he spat out the last of his incantation. From his circle a small blob of shadows flew out and flew towards Lucius. However, when it was about to hit Lucius, a small aura of light appeared around him and the shadows halved in size. When it hit him, he still stepped backwards from the force, but it was nothing compared to a full-sized hit.

Lucius then said a few more words, and another beam of light hit the shaman, this time catching him the heart. He instantly dropped dead. Lucius was breathing heavily, and he would need recovery time until his next spell. This is when Nils spoke up and said, "I can help too!"

Kaitlyn looked at him with disbelief. "You can fight?"

Nils shook his head, "Well, no… But I'm a bard! Bards are useful to have around!"

Kaitlyn looked at him and said, "A bard? This is no time for music; we're in a battle right now!"

Nils just shook his head at her, saying, "Well, watch this." He then pulled a flute out from his backpack, and started playing for Lucius. Immediately, the monk's breathing became normal as he listened to the song. It was a quick and jaunty tune, and it brought to mind the raging sea and the wild winds of the ocean. When he had stopped playing, the monk had completely recovered.

The original bandit looked at what happened and stepped back. "Shit, what are they doing? Everybody, pull back to the nearby woods!" and then ran off toward the woods. Everybody did the same except for the first shaman, who merely looked at them and smiled. He then turned and faded into the shadows of the woods.

Kaitlyn quickly did some calculations, and decided. "Everybody, chase after them! They'll be separated running through the woods! Travel in groups so as not to get overpowered by surprise!"

Everyone nodded, and started to run after the bandits. Kaitlyn however, stayed behind. She was worried that she had made the wrong choice this time. She wanted to help the boy too, but they were almost outnumbered four to one. Everybody in the group worked excellently as a team, but still, the odds were four to one…

She then heard the bushes behind her rustle. She whirled around in surprise and got into a position where she could grab her knife easily. If they were making that much noise they were either stupid enough to think they could get away with making that much noise, or was confident that she wouldn't be able to stop them.

From the bush came a man with long, black hair that went down to the middle of his back. He wore a blue cloak like what swordmasters wear, except his was black with a blue trim, which was an unusual color combo. His eyes were a deep shade of brown, and they were hardened with determination. He also held a sword in his hand, and it already had blood dripping down it. He also had two crossbows on his belt, one smaller than normal and both very well used. Kaitlyn drew her knife.

"What do you want?" she asked, trying to keep her voice level. The man practically radiated power from his very being. He was either arrogant enough to think that he was way better than he was, or he had power and he knew it.

He looked at her confused. He then saw her glance at his sword, and he looked and only just seemed to notice the blood dripping down it. "Oh, sorry about that," he said while he reached into his jacket and pulled out a red cloth, which he used to wipe his sword clean. While he was cleaning his sword, he glanced at her. "You're the leader of this group, right?"

She shook her head, not lowering her guard for a second. "I'm the tactician, not the leader. Now who are you?" she asked again.

He looked confused again, as if he were wondering why he was being treated like a hostile. He then glanced at his cloak and then said, "Oh, I probably look like the enemies with this black cloak on!" She paused a second, then nodded. He shook his head. "Sorry about that. I'm not one of them. In fact I'm a mercenary, and it looks like you guys can use some help.

At this point, Kaitlyn lowered her knife, but she still kept it in her hands. "Well, we could use some help. But I don't think that we'll have enough money to hire your services."

He waved off the statement. "Fine, I'll give you one free battle. We can talk about my price after the battle. Anyway, so other than the battle, what's happening?"

Kaitlyn looked at him as if he had just claimed that he was a bear. "I would rather tell you later. You know, after the battle."

The man hit his head with his palm. "Right, of course! Anyway, I heard your last order, so I'll just follow those also."

He started to walk away when Kaitlyn called out to him, "Wait, you never told me your name!"

He turned around briskly, and said, "The name is Cormag," with a smile. He then turned back and started to run towards the forest.

Kaitlyn watched him go. His face looked familiar, but where had she seen it before? Then it hit her. He was the mercenary she saw in her dreams, the one who had been kicked out of his mercenary group. She watched him go before she snapped out of it. She was, after all, in charge of Lyndis' Legion.

* * *

Matthew and Sain charged through the forest, slaying any enemies in their way. Well, Sain was the one who actually killed them; Matthew's job was to watch out for surprise attacks. His eyes were sharp enough to see small things that would give away an ambush.

As they continued to wander, they eventually found a large house in the woods. Outside of the house stood a man, looking around as if waiting for someone. His hair was blue, and his armor was the same color with gold on it. He was also holding an impressive looking axe in his hands. As they approached, they heard him say, "Damn! Eliwood's late again! I wonder what's keeping him this time! I'm starting to think that my axe will rust over before he gets here."

Sain and Matthew stopped a little bit away from the cabin. Sain leaned over and whispered, "I don't recognize him as one of the enemies we saw. Let's just leave."

Matthew shook his head a little bit. "You go ahead; I need to talk to him."

Sain looked at him with a confused look. "Why do you need to talk to him?"

Matthew hesitated before saying, "Well… uh, truth be told," he started slowly. But then he sighed and continued, "This punk owes me money for a job he never paid me for. I'm going to collect now."

Sain looked between Matthew and the man. "You're going to force him? You?"

Matthew looked at him with a sly grin. "Well, I have… ways… of getting what I want from people who owe me."

Sain just shrugged and said, "Ok, I'll meet you at the castle where we're all meeting." He then took off at a solid pace toward through the forest.

Matthew waited a moment, but before he approached, the man said, "So, I'm a punk now, am I?" without turning his head to look at Matthew.

Matthew smiled a bit. "Apologies, milord. May I ask what brings you here?"

He turned to face Matthew, and sighed. "Well, I'm supposed to be having my monthly bout with Eliwood, but he doesn't appear to be in any rush."

Matthew looked mildly impressed. "You're still testing each other's fighting abilities? It's a solid friendship you have if you can practice so faithfully."

The man shrugged his shoulders. "If you don't sharpen your blade, you lose the edge. So tell me, what are you doing here?"

Matthew bowed his head as he said, "Milord Uther was curious about the succession issue here."

"Oh, the long-lost granddaughter thing, right? So, which way does my brother lean?"

"As far as I can tell, he will back up the granddaughter's claim to the throne. The current marquess' brother, Lundgren, is far too ambitious. If he's left alone to his scheming, we may find his shadow falling on Ostia's door before long.

The man nodded, "Sounds like a solid assessment to me."

Matthew then looked up again. "My return to Ostia is going to be a little later than I first anticipated. Would you mind letting Lord Uther know?"

The man grinned at him, "Oh, you think that you're important enough to use the marquess' own brother as a personal messenger?"

Matthew grinned at him. "Well, you always did have a good sense of humor. Now, I must be off, lest someone think something suspicious." He started to run towards the meeting place, and called over his shoulder, "Don't forget my message!"

The man gave a solid, "hmph," before saying, "What impudence!"

* * *

Kaitlyn went into the forest, and eventually found a trail of bodies. She followed it, until she stumbled upon Lyn, Erk, and Serra as they were finishing off a small group of bandits. As the last rouge was stabbed, Kaitlyn approached them. Lyn heard her approach, and turned to greet her. "Oh, good. I was worried you wouldn't be able to find anybody."

Kaitlyn snorted. "With the trail of bodies you guys have been leaving?" She then turned to look at the new rogues. "It's weird; these guys don't seem like the usual bandits and ruffians."

Lyn shook her head. "That's because they're not. We ran into Wil and Lucius earlier, and they said that they ran into an old man who said that these guys are from a group called the Black Fang. These guys are supposed to be a big deal. He said that we were dead for crossing them."

Kaitlyn smirked. "Well, they can try, but I don't think that the Black Fang has faced any group that's quite like ours."

Serra snorted. "Yeah, there's no group that's quite like ours."

However, right then, they heard the sound of a bowstring snapping, and an arrow whizzed past their head. They turned towards where the arrow came from, but they didn't see anybody. Then to their right they heard a laughing, and another arrow flew past their head. But again, when they looked where the arrow came from, they didn't see anybody.

A voice then called out from behind them. "Who are you guys supposed to be? Little children playing heroes in some foolish knight romance? You may think that you guys are doing good, but all that you've done is rushed to your doom!"

Kaitlyn scanned the surrounding area. She everything except for the woods around them and any sounds that would be out of place. She waited like that for a few more seconds until she heard it. The sound of a bow creaking. She pointed towards where she heard the noise and shouted, "Erk, there!"

Erk immediately shouted out, "_**Ignis!**_" and launched a fire ball towards where she pointed. The fire disappeared into the bushes, which started to burn. They waited, and then a couple seconds later, the archer that they first saw stumbled out of the woods. He was breathing heavily, and had severe burns on his chest and right arm. When he got to where they were he fell down, gasping, "You're only… striking at air. You're… too late. The girl is already," he then cut out, dead.

Lyn went over to him and closed his eyes. She then got up, and said, "Let's get to the castle."

* * *

They had finally made it to the clearing that had the castle. Along the way, they had joined up with the rest of the group, except Cormag. Kaitlyn hadn't seen him, and hadn't decided to tell anybody about him. No use explaining that she had kind of hired a mercenary if he was dead.

The only person in front of the castle was the shaman that they had originally met. Kaitlyn was about to call for Lucius to take him out, when from the bushes near the shaman shook as a black blur ran past them. It was Cormag. The shaman saw him and began casting magic.

Somehow Cormag moved even faster towards the shaman, but not before the shaman launched a blob of shadows towards him. However, even though it raced towards him, he dropped down and slid under it. He then used his legs to get up again without losing his momentum, and drew his sword. Kaitlyn's jaw dropped, and she saw others in the group looking shocked also.

The shaman finished casting another spell, and they saw a purple circle appear at Cormag's feet. Where the circle appeared, the grass under it immediately died and the dirt turned into sand. However, before it could get Cormag, he jumped at the shaman. Literally. He leapt towards him and swung his sword at him. The shaman ducked out of the way of the sword's path. However, while in air, Cormag spun, and caught the shaman in the back. He then landed perfectly, and the shaman dropped dead. He then looked at his sword, and started to clean the blood off of it using the dead shaman's cloak.

By the time he had finished, they had already arrived. He looked up at them, and sheathed his sword. Kaitlyn then came forward with her hand outstretched. "That was well done. My name is Kaitlyn, and if Lyn agrees, you're hired."

Lyn however, wasn't overly impressed. "Kaitlyn, who is he, and why did he just kill the enemy commander?"

Cormag shook Kaitlyn's hand as he said, "You must be Lyn then. My name is Cormag, and Kaitlyn here appeared to have hired me, that is, if you agree."

Lyn scowled at him. "You barely did anything! We don't have money to waste on useless mercenaries!"

Cormag looked hurt. "I assure you that I'm a competent swordsman-" he started, but Lyn cut him off by holding up her sword in challenge.

"Prove it then. Come and get me," she said. Before Kaitlyn could defuse the challenge, Cormag chuckled. Lyn then made a jab towards him, and he whipped out his sword and blocked it. She then made a swing towards his left side, which he easily batted away. Before she could do anything else, he then reached out and grabbed her arm. He then put his foot behind her leg and put his arm across her neck. He then lifted his foot and pushed her neck, and Lyn flipped around and landed on the dirt. He then put his sword to her neck.

He then chuckled again. "Lesson number one, Lyn. If your opponent is cocky, that's probably because he's actually good." He then sheathed sword, and offered his hand to help her up. While she grabbed it and helped her up he said, "You're pretty good Lyn, but don't try to pick a fight with someone of my level until you can hold your own against me."

Lyn then shook his hand as a sign that he was hired while saying, "I'm too reckless, aren't I?"

Cormag smiled again and said, "Well, if I said you were all that would make me is a hypocrite. I always jump right into a fight." He then looked at the rest of them. "So, were you guys fighting for a reason, or were you just fighting for fun?"

Nils then saw someone coming out of the castle carrying a girl and shouted, "Ninian!" His sister looked very similar to him, except with longer hair. She was being carried by a tall man with blazing red hair.

When he reached them, he said, "She's alright." He then gave her to Kent, who had approached with his arms outstretched. He then straightened up and said to Lyn, "Hello, I am Eliwood, son of the marquess of Pherae."

Lyn then nodded at him, "Thank you for saving Ninian milord. You have our gratitude."

Eliwood then smiled at them saying, "Don't worry about being formal. Also, you're welcome."

Cormag moved into the group of them as Lyn then continued, "My name is Lyn of Sacae, and I'm Marquess Caelin's granddaughter."

Eliwood's eyebrow arched up. "Marquess Caelin?"

Lyn then explained her tale from meeting Kaitlyn to their encounter with the Black Fang. When she finished she said, "It's not an easy tale to believe, I know…"

Eliwood cut her off by saying, "No, I believe you."

Lyn looked shocked, "You do?"

Eliwood nodded. "When I first saw you, I saw the daughter of plainsfolk. However, now I can see it. You have your grandfather's eyes."

Lyn touched the corner of her eyes, and said, "You know my grandfather?"

Eliwood nodded, "Lord Hausen is my father's good friend. I also know that the people of Sacae tell no lies, correct?"

Lyn nodded, "Yes that's right. Thank you. I wouldn't expect any Lycian noble to be so courteous to a person of Sacae, especially after our last experience." Rath nodded behind her.

Eliwood shrugged. "You seemed to be in trouble. May I be of assistance in any way?"

Lyn shook her head. "No, but thank you for the offer. This is my problem, and I'll deal with it."

Eliwood nodded, understanding. "All right. I'll be in the area for a bit longer if you need anything. If you do, don't be afraid to be in contact. I'm on your side." He then nodded at them again, then walked off towards the woods.

They all watched him go. A little after he disappeared into the woods, Ninian stirred. Nils immediately rushed towards his sister. "Ninian! Are you awake?"

Ninian got up sluggishly. "Nils is that you?" she asked. Then her eyes focused, and she saw him. She then smiled and said, "You're safe!"

Nils nodded, saying, "Uh-huh, these people help me." He then gestured towards the rest of them.

Ninian looked at them with untrusting eyes. "Who are they?"

Lyn then stepped up. "I'm Lyn. I'm glad that you're feeling better."

Ninian nodded, looking a little more trusting. "Milady Lyn, thank you. My name is Ninian, and you've already met Nils. We're traveling performers."

Lyn looked at her to see if she also had some kind of musical instrument. "Both of you? I know that Nils plays the flute, but what do you do?"

Ninian flushed a bit as she said, "I… dance."

Sain immediately perked up. "Did I hear that correctly? You're a dancer?"

Kaitlyn pulled him back slightly. "Sain, we should probably save that for later. Wouldn't want to scare them off."

Sain blushed a bit, and said, "Um, yeah. Of course."

Lyn then looked at Ninian. "A dancer? Your clothes don't look like those of a dancer."

Nils stepped in, saying. "Ninian dances to honor life. It's special. Sacred."

Lyn raised her eyebrow. "A sacred dance? What does that mean?"

Ninian explained this time, "The dance I perform for most purposes is a normal dance. My other dance though…" She then changed topics. "When they caught me, I twisted my ankle. I cannot dance to aid you."

Lyn waved her hand. "It's fine, don't worry. We're just happy to see you out of harm's way." She then looked at her leg. "But you sprained your ankle? You won't be able to travel on it."

Nils then spoke up, "I've an idea. We could travel with you"

Lyn shook her head. "I can't allow that. It's way too dangerous. We're being hunted, and we can be attacked whenever.

"We wouldn't be a hindrance," Nils protested. "We could even help you, right Ninian?"

Ninian nodded. "Yes, we could help pay off our debt using our… special talents."

Nils nodded. "Yeah, when there's something that would put us in danger around, we can sense it."

Lyn's eyes widened. "Really? That's amazing!"

Nils nodded. "We can feel it coming, but we can't do anything about it. You guys are warriors though, so you don't have to worry."

Lyn thought about it for a second. She then turned towards Kent for council. "What do you think Kent?"

Kent responded, "I think that leaving them here would cause you more worry than if we have them travel with us.

Lyn nodded, and then turned towards Sain and said, "And what do you think Sain?" He was about to respond, when Lyn cut him off, "Wait, never mind, I know your answer." Sain hmphed, but she had hit the nail on the head. Kaitlyn smiled, they knew each other well.

She then finally turned towards Kaitlyn. "And what do you think?"

Kaitlyn considered it, then said, "I think that with both of their talents of re-energizing our group and their ability to sense danger that they'll make a valuable contribution to our team."

Lyn considered all of their advice, then turned towards Nils and Ninian. "Do you really want to travel with us?"

Nils nodded vigorously. "Of course!"

Ninian also nodded. "You have our gratitude, milady." She then reached for her hand, but then quickly pulled it to her face. "Oh no!"

Nils looked at her in surprise. "What is it Ninian?"

Ninian looked depressed as she said, "I've lost my ring."

Nils gasped in surprise. "Not Ninis' Grace! They stole it, those dastards!"

Lyn looked at them. "Was it valuable?"

Ninian looked on the verge of tears, so Nils explained. "It was a keepsake from our departed mother. It was blessed by the spirit of Ninis. There's no other ring like it in the world. And now it's been stolen by those villains. There's nothing we can do."

Lyn looked at them, then turned towards Kaitlyn. "May I have a word?" She asked. Kaitlyn nodded, and they stepped away from the others. When they were a safe distance away, Lyn said, "You heard all of that, right?" Kaitlyn nodded, so she continued, "What do you think we should do? I'd really like to get their ring back. But if Nils is right, then those guys may be too strong for us. Plus it will delay us getting to my grandfather. What should we do."

Kaitlyn thought over all of the facts before saying, "I think that we should go. It would help our friendship with Nils and Ninian, and they'll be good allies to have. Plus, if we go fast, we should be able to catch them by tomorrow."

Lyn smiled. "That's great! I was hoping you'd say that!" She then turned towards the others. "Sain! Those men were heading south! We ride after them!"

Sain immediately snapped to attention. "On you word milady!" And he leapt on his horse, and everyone got ready to move.

Lyn then muttered. "There's no turning back now." Then, when everyone was ready and Ninian and Nils were comfortably seated on the back of horses, she yelled. "Let's ride!" and they marched forward towards the remaining members of the Black Fangs they had fought.

* * *

**A/N: Alright, everybody! Sorry it's been a while, but with back to school coming and marching band season starting, I've been busy. Also, I'm helping my sister move to college, so I've also been busy with that. However, I stopped everything today, and just sat down and wrote my chapter. And so this is it! Hope you guys like it! As a final note, I think that Eliwood definately had the right thing going when he said, "Don't be afraid to be in contact." Feel free to review, and I'll see you next time!**

**King35763, hooked on Tales now.**

"**Wibbly-wobbly, Time-wimey… stuff." Doctor who, season 3, Blink**


	11. Chapter 8x

**Disclaimer****: In case you haven't heard yet, I don't own Fire Emblem. Well other than the games, but I only own copies, not the actual characters and stuff.**

* * *

The room was dark, with only a few torches in it to light it. Inside, two figures stood facing each other. One was stiff and obviously on edge. The other was completely comfortable with the situation. The relaxed one said, "I'm just checking to make sure I'm hearing this right. The brother got away, and the sister was rescued by a single man who waltzed through our stronghold." She said it with a soft and soothing voice, like how a snake would sound if it could talk.

The other one paused, then shook their head. They responded with a deep gravelly voice. "Not quite. There was a mercenary group outside. Most of our men were outside fighting. The only reason why the man got through the stronghold is because he was able to sneak past the main force and…"

The woman raised her hand, and the man stopped. "Hold your excuses, Beyard. The end is all that matters."

Beyard nodded stiffly. "Yes, ma'am. Of course ma'am."

The woman's lips curled up into what could loosely be considered a smile, although it looked more like the face a wild animal looks before it digs into its prey. "And what's your plan for recovering the siblings?"

At this, Beyard allowed himself a small grin. "We've word that the mercenary group we encountered before is headed this way. And they have the brats with them."

This got a small amount of surprise to spark in the woman's eyes. "They're coming here? Why are they doing that? Especially seeing how they know we want the twins."

Beyard still had his grin as he pulled out a ring from his pocket. "They are probably after this ring. It has some weird energy around it, making it a rare piece. We took it from the girl. It was quite lucky that we did, especially if it brings them to us. I'll be able to get the whole lot of them with this as bait."

The woman stared at him in silence for a couple seconds. She then said, "I see… Very well Beyard, I'll give you another chance. I've business to deal with elsewhere, but I shall return as soon as it's dealt with. You have until tomorrow's sunrise to have the children. Do you understand?"

Beyard nodded stiffly again. "Yes, Lady Ursula."

Ursula smiled her venomous smile again as she turned to leave. Right as she was about to leave, she turned again, saying, "If you don't have the children when you return… my hand will become the fang's punishment. Remember it and bear it closely in your mind." She then turned and glided out of the door.

After she had left, Beyard shivered to himself. He then called in his scouts to see how far away the group was.

* * *

After seven hours straight of hard-paced travel, they finally found an inn that they agreed to stop at. After paying for two nights and for meals, they all sat down. Almost everyone in the group had dark bags under their eye, except for Cormag. When asked about it, he would say, "I would often have to travel long distances at a fast pace while getting almost no sleep." He then smirked and said, "The upside of being a long-time mercenary."

Cormag was a bit of an oddity in the group. He was quiet and often wouldn't talk to anyone else in the group. Everyone kind of avoided him, half because of his quietness and half because they all saw what he did to the necromancer and Lyn.

After a bit of food and drink, everyone went up to their respective rooms. On their way up, Lyn and Kaitlyn asked about the Black Fang group they had been chasing. The owners didn't want to say anything, but after a bit of asking, they finally revealed that they group was probably heading to the castle that was about two hours out of town. Kaitlyn and Lyn thanked them and went to their room.

They got there and immediately sat on their beds and discussed what to do. They had been following the Black Fang for about three days now, and they had finally caught up with them. They decided to wake up early and get to the castle as soon as possible, and then ambush the castle. The more people they could catch off guard the better. With that decided, they said goodnight and fell asleep.

* * *

The scout had found them. They were at an inn just a little under two hours away. Perfect, Beyard thought. He then yelled, "Alright troops! Up at the crack of dawn!" After moaning and groaning, he shut them up by raising his hand. "Our special guests will be making an early morning appearance; I don't want any of you caught with your pants down! Literally and figuratively." This got a few chuckles from the assembly, so Beyard knew that they were in. He went to his room to go to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

* * *

Darkness again. Kaitlyn knew who was coming. She turned to see Gaige leaning against air. He grinned at her. "It's been a while Kaitlyn."

Kaitlyn sighed, "Yeah, well I'm assuming that we've both been busy."

Gaige nodded, "Quite right Kaitlyn. That was a good guess!"

"Anything particular that you wanted to talk about this time or…?"

Gaige raised an eyebrow. "Wait, since when has there needed to be a reason? Why didn't I get this message before?"

Kaitlyn decided to humor him with a sarcastic smile. "Very funny. But seriously, was there anything specific this time or not?"

Gaige's face became serious, and he nodded. "Kaitlyn, we're reaching the close of this adventure. Soon, this will all be over."

Kaitlyn looked at him in a suspicious manner. "Yeah, and so?"

Gaige looked at her with sad eyes before he continued. "Kaitlyn, I hope you realize that you're going to have to leave Lyn behind." He ended his sentence, but instead of a response, there was silence. It hadn't yet occurred to Kaitlyn that she would have to leave Lyn. But she supposed it made sense. Kaitlyn wanted to become a better tactician after all, and the only way to do that was through battles. Still, it was hard to let her go. She had already lost the other close person in her life, and she didn't want to lose another.

Gaige was looking at her, trying to read her. After a while, he gave up. "Right. Now's not the best time to do more talking. I'll leave you to your dreams." He then snapped his fingers, and Kaitlyn fell backwards into the darkness.

She was falling through space, completely disorientated. However, when she landed, she was kneeling. And in her lap, was Glass. He closed his eyes and said, "With that, I am content." Kaitlyn didn't know what to do. She should try and save Glass, she should try to do… Something! Anything else to keep Glass alive! But then he breathed his last, his breath in halting agony, and his eyes were filled with pain, until they finally started to mist over.

Kaitlyn started crying again. It had been weeks since she had lost him, so why did it hurt just as much as the first time? But then she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up, expecting to see Glass. However, she saw Lyn instead. Lyn looked furious as she pulled Kaitlyn roughly into a standing position. "How could you leave me? After all I've done for you? You're just going to hit the road, never look back?" Her eyes flashed dangerously. "Just leave! Why stay here? You're not welcome here! GO!" she screamed at her.

Kaitlyn stumbled back in shock, but she tripped over something. She fell backwards, but instead of hitting the ground she flipped into darkness again. She was falling, getting faster and faster, she was out of control, she was-

* * *

Screaming as she woke up. She was also in the most uncomfortable position she'd been in for as long as she could remember. It involved having one leg parallel to her face, and the other leg was almost wrapped around it, and her arm was in the gap between them. As she, groaned and untangled herself, she heard Lyn snorting. "Look who finally got up! I was going to wake you up a couple of minutes ago, but… that was just too great to interrupt."

Kaitlyn groaned. What did she mean by finally up? It was still way before dawn! It's not like getting up six hours earlier than she needed to be was going to help anything! She then slowly got up and got dressed. After she did that, they went and rallied the rest of the legion. Everybody was still pretty heavily asleep, except for Cormag. Kaitlyn guessed it was another perk of being a long-time mercenary.

When everybody had fully assembled outside of the inn, regardless of the amount of yawning they did, Lyn held up her hand for attention. When she had everybody's attention, she started. "Well, everybody, this is it. The Black Fang that we've been chasing for three days has finally stopped. They've walled themselves up in a stronghold about two hours from here. However, if we move fast, we can catch them off guard, and finish this quickly! Are you with me?" The volume that was heard was underwhelming, so Lyn tried again, "Are you with me?"

This time they got a semi-decent yeah out of them, although Sain said, "But we're taking tomorrow off!" That got a louder cheer than Lyn's speech, and Kaitlyn socked him in the arm. She tried to at least, she instead hit his armor. She then learned that if it can fend off spears and swords, it can fend off her measly attempt at a punch.

Giving an exasperated sigh, Lyn turned towards the stronghold and started walking, the others reluctantly following behind her.

* * *

After two hours, they finally arrived at the stronghold. The company had woken up, and was getting their final preparations done before battle. Outside the stronghold, there was a single scout, but he was dozing off. So he didn't see it coming when Dorcas picked him up by his arms and Cormag shoved a cloth with a rock in his mouth, gagging him.

Kaitlyn and Lyn then walked up to him. "Is this the stronghold for the Black Fang?" The scout nodded viciously. Lyn then continued, "Do they have a ring here, with some strange magic?" The scout thought for a moment, then nodded again. Kaitlyn then asked, "Is there anything that we should know about what's in store for us." The scout shook his head back and forth.

Kaitlyn and Lyn looked at each other for a moment. Then Kaitlyn looked back at him and said, "Then I guess we don't need you anymore." She then nodded to Cormag, who proceeded to cock his fist back for a knockout blow. However, when he started to swing, the scout threw his arms together, which caught Dorcas off guard, the scout dropped, and Cormag instead hit Dorcas in the face. Dorcas let go of the man and put his hands to his face. The scout then started to run towards the entrance to the stronghold.

He almost made it to, before Matthew stepped out of the shadows and tripped him. As he fell, Matthew grinned at Dorcas, "Come on, even I saw something like that coming." Dorcas just glared as he tried to stop the bleeding and started to approach the scout, Cormag following right behind him. So as the scout got up in an attempt to get away again, Dorcas' fist made contact with his gut. As Dorcas' muscles rippled, you heard the air rush out of the man, and heard several of his ribs cracking. Then as he bent over in pain, Cormag upper-cut him, this time knocking him out cold.

Once Dorcas had recovered and Cormag had gotten his fractured right hand healed, the group made their way into the stronghold.

* * *

Beyard watched as the group approached from a missing brick in the upper-level of his fortress. He saw as they gagged his man, Leon, and then questioned him. Luckily, Leon didn't give out the information about the ambush in store for them. He then tried to escape, but instead got beat to a pulp. Beyard smiled as they did it. He never liked Leon, and had often fantasized doing what they had done to him. They then made their way into the fortress. Beyard waited until they were all inside, then flipped the switch next to him, and waited to hear their screams.

* * *

The door clanged shut behind them. They were trapped. Kaitlyn pursed her lips. This was going to make things interesting to say the least. Could it have simply been a coincidence? Then she saw the doors open in front of them, and saw several thugs step out from behind each one of them. All of them were fully armed and ready for battle. They had known that they were coming, and this was a trap.

~_By the way, it's not a coincidence~_

_Thanks genius, I hadn't realized!_

~_It was a pleasure to help you out then!~_

Kaitlyn could almost feel his sarcastic smile as she called out, "Battle formations! Sain, Kent, Lyn, Cormag, and Dorcas, you're in the front! Everybody else stick behind and make sure that nobody gets through! Front row, take out ranged units first! Go!"

Everybody rushed into position, so by the time that the first wave of mercenaries struck, they were ready, and already counter-attacking. Erk was launching fire-balls, with Kaitlyn sometimes adding a little of her own flames to his. Even with all of her training, she still wasn't allowed to use magic to fight yet. Unbelievable! The Lucius was blinding the characters up front, and somehow managing to smite others with light. Kaitlyn didn't know how that worked and probably never would. Nils was running to and fro, playing his flute and restoring energy to those around him.

And then there was Cormag. He was on a different level entirely. Anybody who approached them was down almost instantly. To be fair, he was moving almost as fast as Lyn did when she did her kill move, which Kaitlyn had taken to calling it a critical hit, because once someone was hit with that, if they didn't die they would soon after. Anyway, Cormag wasn't even breaking a sweat as he felled enemies like some farmers did wheat. He was death incarnate, and none could stop his dance of doom.

After a few minutes of being slaughtered, they thugs wizened up, and decided to retreat so that they could gather more defenses and try to get into a more favorable position. Still, with Wil, Erk, Lucius, and Rath firing after them, not too many were left.

They took a few minutes to recover and heal their injuries. They then traveled deeper into the fortress, finding some chests along the way that Matthew happily looted. They then finally found the remnants of the forces they had fought earlier, who had gathered others to help them. However, it wasn't even a close battle. They all quickly fell to blade, spell, or arrow. However, when the group finished, they realized that there was a problem. They were at a cross-path, and they didn't know which way to go.

After trying to find any sign of anything that would indicate which way they should go, Kaitlyn spoke up. "Ok, it's time to say it. We need to split up." When Lyn started to protest, Kaitlyn raised her hand. "Yes I know that it's not a good idea. However, it's the only one that we've got right now!" Lyn looked like she wanted to object, but she didn't. Kaitlyn then continued, "Alright everybody, we need to separate into groups!"

Cormag pulled the shirt off one of the dead thugs on the floor, which he then used to start cleaning his sword. "I can go by myself. These guys aren't even a challenge to me."

Kent raised an eyebrow at him. "Arrogant enough are we?"

Cormag smirked and shrugged, never taking his eyes off of his sword. "It's a gift."

Kent then countered, "While your skill is undeniable, we can't trust you to go off on your own."

Kaitlyn guffawed at him. "Kent! That's no way to treat someone on your own team!"

Cormag was still smirking though, and he said, "Yes Kent, that was very harsh. I'm very hurt. I want an apology."

Kent was still as cool as ever. "Well, we don't all get what we want. I'll go with you, to make sure that you don't try to do anything."

Kaitlyn however, stopped him. "Um, no. That isn't going to work. You guys will kill each other before you're halfway down this hallway. I'll go with Cormag and keep an eye on him." Kent and Lyn both started to object, however, Kaitlyn's look brooked no argument. When they finally submitted, Kaitlyn smiled. "Good. Now that we have that settled, let's get the other teams." After a few more minutes, they had decided. Lyn, Sain, Rath, Florina, and Lucius would make up one team. Kent, Matthew, Serra, Erk, Wil, Dorcas, and Nils would make up the other team. With that decided, they all turned down their respective paths and moved out.

* * *

Kaitlyn and Cormag traveled down their path in silence. Kaitlyn wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything to say. So they continued in silence until Kaitlyn finally asked, "If you're as good as you are, then how come you aren't in a mercenary group?"

Cormag looked down at her from the corner of his eye. "I'm looking for someone, and the other groups I joined weren't moving around enough for my tastes. So I leave and find another group to join, which is what I'm doing right now."

Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow at him. "So as soon as we start stop moving around as fast as you'd like, you're going to leave us to?" Cormag shrugged, and Kaitlyn whistled. "How do you do it?"

Cormag looked at her like he didn't understand the question. "I move in a different direction then the group is going, and keep moving away from them until I find…"

Kaitlyn's laugh cut him off. "That's not what I meant! I meant how do you leave your friends behind?"

Cormag looked forward again. "I don't make friends in the groups I join anymore. I learned the hard way that you could very easily be separated from them. And I don't leave friends behind. Which is why I'm searching for mine right now."

Kaitlyn then remembered her visions where she saw Cormag. The old mercenary leader. That had to be the person he was talking about. However, when she finally found an appropriate way of asking him about it. Cormag suddenly pulled out his sword and stabbed right past her chest, through the door to her right. She was about to yell at him for randomly stabbing things, when she noticed that blood was dripping down his blade. He pulled his sword out of the door, opening it, and a body fell out.

Cormag kept on walking before saying, "That idiot should have learned to know when people are passing by without putting his eye to the lock. It kind of gives things away."

Kaitlyn just looked at him, stunned, for a moment, before realizing that he was leaving her behind. She then started to chase after him. "Right when she was about to catch up to him, he stopped abruptly, throwing his hand back to stop her and cover her mouth. When she started to object, he put a hand to his lips. Kaitlyn listened and realized that there were footsteps approaching. She nodded to say that she understood, and Cormag pulled his arm away and prepared his sword.

They waited until the footsteps were just around the corner. Cormag jumped out and swung at the head of the group. However, they reacted just in the nick of time, and pulled their sword up to block it. Cormag was about to strike again when they heard a voice go, "Woah, woah! Stop!" And in the back of the group a small flame was ignited, and with it they could clearly see the faces of the rest of the group. She saw Sain, Kent, Erk, Rath, Wil, Florina, Lyn, everybody.

After pausing a moment, Cormag took the old bloodied shirt out of this pocket and started cleaning the blood off of his sword. He barely glanced up when he said, "Good job deflecting my strike Lyn. Not many could do that, and I would hate to have to kill everyone else here because of an accidental employer-slaying." This got a chuckle out of some of the men, until they realized that Cormag was completely serious. Or at least that's what they thought until he caught a look of their faces and started to smirk.

"Anyway," Kaitlyn interrupted, "While this is quite the bonding experience, has anybody found the ring yet?" Everybody shook their heads no. "Did encounter any branching paths?" Again, a no. Kaitlyn thought about it then said, "Well, that can only mean one thing! The ring is somewhere around here!" Everybody agreed with her logic, so they started searching for the ring in the nearby rooms.

While Kaitlyn was looking with Wil, all of a sudden, Florina came over to tell her something. However, when she saw Wil, she turned cherry-red. When she tried to speak, nothing came out except a squeak. Kaitlyn smiled and said, "What is it Florina? You can whisper it to me if you want."

Florina nodded, and so Kaitlyn leaned in close as Florina whispered, "I found-"

Matthew's voice came from the direction that Florina came from as he called out, "Hey look, stairs!" Florina immediately sighed, and her shoulders drooped. She had obviously already found the door, but it had been discovered before she could claim credit. Kaitlyn patted her on the shoulder as she passed by her to get to the stairs.

* * *

Once everybody had gathered, they decided to go up the stairs, seeing how it was the only part that they hadn't gone to yet. However, Sain, Kent, Rath, and Florina couldn't fit with their horses, so they had to stay behind.

They climbed up the stairs quietly, in a single-file, with Lyn in the lead and Kaitlyn behind her. When they finally made it up the stairs, they found themselves in a large room which didn't have any decorations in it, just a very large set of doors. And blood. Drag marks were everywhere, and they all seemed to originate from behind the doors. The group all looked at each other, and then slowly, Lyn opened the door.

Behind the door was a room that was just as badly decorated as the one before, except this one had scratch marks and gouges all over the walls, and a giant throne at the front of it. And looking down at them was the man sitting on that throne.

He had short blond hair and a beard. He wore a black armor, and a red scarf. Under his armor he was seriously ripped, not quite at Dorcas' bulging biceps, but a close second. On his right side he had a shield made of the same material as his armor, and on his left a longsword. As they all entered, he smirked. "Ah, I was wondering if you would make it. Of course, with the way that you guys have been going, I suppose that the question should have been when you guys were going to make it." He chuckled at them.

Lyn spoke up, "Do you hold Ninian's ring?"

The man pretended to be confused for a second, "Ring? Hold on let me think…. Ah yes!" He reached down below his scarf to reveal a necklace, which a ring was hooked onto. "Is this the one that you're referring to?"

From the way that Nils gasped, Kaitlyn assumed that it was. "We need that ring. You can give it to us, and we can let you live."

The man raised his eyebrow at them, then laughed. "Oh that's rich, especially coming from someone who looks like they don't even fight. Plus, what makes you think that you're in charge of the rules here?" He smirked and pulled the left arm of his chair upwards, and a huge gate fell down behind them, trapping them inside the room with the man.

When they turned back to face him, he was smirking. "Here are the actual rules." He motioned toward the ring. "You get this, you win. You walk away, nothing happens. You don't get this within… I don't know, let's say five minutes, then I capture you all, and you can face the wrath of the fang." He then stood up slowly, his legs cracking as he stood. He then cracked his shoulders and neck, than picked up his longsword. "By the way, my name is Beyard. Now bring it."

No one moved, waiting for Kaitlyn's orders. But while Kaitlyn was thinking of a plan, Beyard sighed. "Fine, if you want to be like that, then I'll just have to start." He then jumped into the air, and spun around before his sword caught with Lyn's but the sheer force of his blow shattered her sword.

She stood there for a moment, holding the shattered sword. However, it was interrupted by Beyard swinging again, so she had to fall to the ground to avoid the attack. Dorcas then came swinging in, but was easily countered by Beyard's sword. Wil then tried to shoot him with an arrow, but that bounced off of his armor. Erk finally launched a fireball at Beyard, and that had the most effect. However, this was still next to nothing, as he only slid back half an inch. He then smirked at them. "Really? That's all you've got? It's a wonder you ever made it past my men!"

Lyn however, had gotten up by this point. She then drew her second steel sword off of her back. "Oh, we're just getting warmed up, don't worry." She then charged at him. She tried to stab at a weak spot in his armor, but he easily batted her attack away. She then tried to get one of the weak spots on his arm, however he caught her attempt with his shield. No matter what she tried, he always blocked it. He had obviously grown used to people attacking those spots. After Lyn tried one final barrage that was also easily blocked, she retreated, huffing.

Beyard looked at something on the wall, which apparently told time because he said, "Two minutes left! Ready for the fang's punishment yet?"

Kaitlyn finally snapped back into the world around her. "I've got it! Lyn and Cormag, assault him, now!" They both instantly moved in for the attack. It was quite magnificent, both of them spinning around and attacking with their high speed. For the first time since the fight started, Beyard actually looked like he was trying, and he slowly started to back up. That was what Kaitlyn was counting on.

She then proceeded to say, "_**Ignis!**_" and then launch little sparks all around the floor. If she had calculated right, those should be right. "Wil, shoot arrows at the fires!" When he looked at her strangely, she sighed, "Please, just do it." He shrugged and got close enough to the fires to serve her purposes. She then got into a ready position, waiting for her opportunity.

Lyn and Cormag kept on pushing him back. Beyard was obviously straining in concentration at this point, but he still hadn't taken a hit. And time was almost up, so they had to wait for… that! He tripped over one of Wil's arrows. As he fell backwards, Kaitlyn dashed forward, again activating the basic fire spell, which warmed up her hand. So when she grabbed his necklace, it melted, allowing her to grab it with her cool hand and throw it to Nils. He caught it, and the ring was theirs. They had won.

Beyard was lying on the floor. Everybody had backed away from him, in case he tried to pull some kind of trick. Instead, he started laughing. Maniacally. "That was the best fight I've had in a long time! You guys are good! Maybe as good as some of my superiors!" Then he stopped and said, "Too bad that I can't let you go." He then threw himself to his feet, and made a mad dash for his chair.

He was cut off by Cormag though, who put his sword to his chest. "Don't even think about it, Beyard. A deal's a deal."

Beyard laughed again. "Like you could stop it! It took two of you to make me trip! Neither of you even landed a blow on me! He was about to walk past when Cormag held up his sword to Beyard's face. "Try me. As you said, bring it."

Beyard chuckled and swung at Cormag in a diagonal slash. Cormag, however simply ducked below it, and spun around, making a sharp blow to Beyard's leg with the flat side of his sword. While he didn't cut into the armor at all, there was an audible crack as Beyard's leg broke. He screamed and fell to the floor. Cormag then stuck his sword in Beyard's face. "I could have killed you just as quickly. You're just a lowly mercenary. I'm a swordmaster. Don't pretend that it was ever a competition. He then moved over to his chair and pulled the arm-rest again. The gate rose, allowing them to go. They then left the room, not even glancing back at Beyard.

* * *

He lay there in pain for a couple of moments, before reaching behind him and pulling out a small knife. He then stabbed the floor, and dragged himself along to his chair. It took about twenty minutes, with him having to stop constantly to deal with the pain.

When he got there, he lifted up the cushion. Under it was a chest, and when he opened it, there was a bottle of whiskey, and a smaller bottle that was pure black. He pulled out both, then looked at the small one with regret. He then popped off the cork and poured it into the bottle of whiskey. He then stared at the bottle, hard. "You always were my favorite kind of whiskey. Seems appropriate that you are my final drink. Because in the black fang, failure… means death." And with that, he tipped back the bottle, and drank all of its contents in one go. He then sighed and threw it against the wall, shattering it instantly. He then sat there.

About a minute later, he started convulsing. As he fell back to the floor, he started to froth at the mouth. The convulsions kept on getting worse, until they stopped suddenly. Beyard then let out a long breath, and his head fell to the side. As the light faded from his eyes, he saw a figure standing in the door. As the light faded from his eyes, Ursula smiled. She then turned and walked out of the fortress, and didn't look back.

* * *

As they entered the inn, where they had left Ninian, Nils ran forward to his sister. "Ninian, look! They got the ring back for us!"

Ninian looked like she couldn't believe it. She reached out and hesitantly grabbed the ring. When she put it on, her eyes seemed to light up a bit more than usual, and she sighed with relief. She then turned towards Lyn and company. "I don't know what to say. Words can't express my gratitude."

Lyn smiled. "Don't worry, it was nothing. And don't worry we'll make sure to take good care of you in the future."

Nils smiled and said, "We'll take care of you too!"

Lyn smiled at him. "I'll be counting on it."

Kent then interrupted. "It's actually lucky that the bandits decided to come this way. We actually are still pretty close to one of the roads to the castle. If we move fast, we should be there by the day after tomorrow."

Lyn stared at him. "We're going to get there, after all of this time?"

Kent nodded. "Yes. You're almost home."

Lyn sat down at one of the chairs silently. She was obviously overwhelmed by feelings, and didn't know how to respond. So instead Kaitlyn spoke up. "Then let there be no delay! Tomorrow, we set out for the castle! So sleep well, we've got some long days ahead of us!"

At this, the company cheered, then went off to their respective rooms. Lyn however, didn't move. Kaitlyn sat down across from her. She waited until Lyn finally said, "I… just can't believe it. I've had to live so long thinking that I don't have a family, and now I'm within two days travel to my grandfather and uncle. It's just so hard to comprehend."

Kaitlyn put her hand on Lyn's shoulder. "It shouldn't. It's too much to take in, too fast. Just give it some time, and by the time that we get there, you'll know how to respond." Lyn nodded her thanks, and Kaitlyn smiled. Then she lightly hit her on the shoulder. "Now, when I said that we need to go to bed, that means you too. No excuses!"

Lyn smiled at her. "Ok fine. Be like that!" And she got up and together they made their way towards their room.

* * *

**A/N: I'm baaaaack! Sorry that this I haven't updated in so long! I actually deserved to be stoned after this one, although I hope that you'll all be kind enough to forgive me and not stone me or burn me alive. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter, I didn't. I got to this chapter and my mind just went dead. So if this chapter seems like crap, there you go. This was also accounted for because when I started to write it I was recovering from some kind of mysterious illness, and I was very confused and it was hard to even talk properly. Then school hit, and I have to do homework on average for about six hours. So when I get done, I kind of don't want to see words or have to type. But I did it, and here we are! Unfortunately, this also comes with bad news. I'm also going to be inactive in November. I will be participating in NaNoWriMo, and that's going to consume any free time that I have. So for the 30 days of November, I will not be posting any chapters. However, to make up for this, I'm planning on finishing up the Lyn story arc by November, because that's a natural breaking point. However, win or lose NaNoWriMo, I'll come back, and the Eliwood story shall begin! So, to conclude, as always, thank you all for reading, and thank you to my followers for their feedback about what to do for future chapters. It's always good to know what you guys like/want. This leads me to my closing statement, please review. Let me know what you think, goods, bads, what you ate, I don't care, although if you say what you ate prepare for some serious follow up!**

**King35763, out! *breaches water like a sea pancake and flips in air before crashing back into the ocean, with a belly flop***

"**Forced to play a game of blind dares, you won't even listen to my right to refuse. The quest that you assigned me is to "kill the mob."…What did I dream of being? 'You want to be a hero? (LOL)' I say my wish out loud, 'But too bad, there's no cure for stupidity – Zetsubousei: Hero Chiryouyaku (Dangan Ronpa: The Animation ending theme) by Soraru**


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